


How 21 Students Saved the World

by jongkey_krisho



Series: NCT Students Do a Lot of Saving [1]
Category: NCT (Band), SEVENTEEN (Band)
Genre: Action, Happy Ending, High School AU, M/M, Romance, Save the world au, also soonhoon from svt because i needed adults, give up jisung it won't be called jichen, i dont think its that graphic tho, i forgot to say theres some violence, if you don't see a ship it's in a sequel, like chenji, like what else would i write, not important to know for the story, one character has mental issues, oops spoiler, smut idk not the main point, sorry for all these tag changes, theres only two chapters with trigger warnings, they get a happy ending too don't worry, you know part of the action
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-11-17
Updated: 2021-01-14
Packaged: 2021-02-07 16:54:42
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 22
Words: 73,978
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21461377
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jongkey_krisho/pseuds/jongkey_krisho
Summary: The Neo Culture Technology School has been well known for its outstanding academics, the perfect sports team, and the kind and wonderful behavior of its students. Its clubs, called units, may not be the most known thing about the school, but when a group of intergalactic invaders attack the US and threaten to attack their city in South Korea as well, 21 boys from 4 units stay behind and discover new friendships, secrets, and love along the way and helping each other survive while they protect the one place they call home.
Relationships: Chittaphon Leechaiyapornkul | Ten/Suh Youngho | Johnny, Dong Si Cheng | WinWin/Nakamoto Yuta, Jung Yoonoh | Jaehyun/Lee Taeyong, Kwon Soonyoung | Hoshi/Lee Jihoon | Woozi, Lee Donghyuck | Haechan/Mark Lee, Qian Kun/Xiao De Jun | Xiao Jun
Series: NCT Students Do a Lot of Saving [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1547083
Comments: 45
Kudos: 119





	1. Dreams and Teens Everywhere

No one calls it the Neo Culture Technology School. It’s just NCT. 

The name was coined because the school wanted to focus on how rapid modern technology was advancing while still keeping true to their culture and beliefs. Thus NCT has been born. 

Taeyong still thought the name was stupid, though.

Here he was in the NCT 127 Unit. First, he hated how the clubs were called units, but the school called them that because clubs made people feel more isolated. And most clubs started with the NCT name if they didn’t deal with a specific interest. Why, Taeyong thought. It’s not like the students were going to forget which school they are in. 

Course, some units don't follow this rule. The WayV unit, the one dedicated to the Chinese students, was the most well-known one. But what did the WayV name had to do with anything anyways?

But anyways, it was the first day of school again. This time it was his junior year, so more fun classes without worrying about the applications for college. The last time to truly be carefree. That’s why when he ran for the role of president during the end of sophomore year and he won, he knew he would be able to dedicate the time to that. 

Taeyong wasn’t only the president of the student body. He was in the NCT 127 unit last year, and apparently everyone loved him, so now he was the leader of that unit as well. 

The NCT 127 Unit was a club to teach other students about Korean culture (the whole freaking point of this school) but in a way that doesn’t regard to classroom learning. For example, they would play a big traditional korean game, eat or learn to cook something, etc. Most of the time they would put on a classic korean movie or show, probably Boys Over Flowers or Winter Sonata. The students would use the meeting as an excuse to blast their korean music. 

But now he was the leader of this club as well. 

He waited until the time turned to four so that they could begin. There were 10 people, including himself, present. He recognized some from last year and saw some new faces, so he could only hope this could go well. 

“Hello everyone,” he shouted, clapping his hands together to bring nine pairs of eyeballs towards him. “My name is Lee Taeyong, and I’ll be the leader of this unit this year.” 

He hated public speaking so much, he could only hope the other members wouldn’t notice him shaking. 

“Well, um, I was wondering if you guys were okay with going around in a circle, stating your name-” he was met with groans, gosh, why did he sign up for this again? “-and your korean name if you had one? If you want we can assign you one.”

Some of them were chattering between them, and it wasn’t until a guy named Jaehyun spoke up. “Can you guys shut up? I’ll go first if you want.”

“Jaehyun, I already know your name, dumbass,” one of the newer ones said. “We all know why you here anyways.” 

“Taeyong sunbaenim, I hate my Korean name, do I have to say it,” one called Mark said. 

“It’s Minhyung,” said the new kid next to him. 

“HAECHAN-”

“Okay, well, my name is Jaehyun,” Jaehyun started saying. “If  _ anyone  _ uses my real name I will beat your ass. Thank you.” 

Taeyong needed to reprimand Jaehyun that they couldn’t use vulgar language, along with the other dude who cussed, but he didn’t know what to do. Would they call him lame? Kick him out of his position? Make everyone leave the group? He couldn’t do that. 

Besides, Jaehyun had helped him out earlier. He decided to let this time slide. 

The one next to Jaehyun went. “My name is Moon Taeil, yes Haechan I know you’re the sun,” Taeil said. At least Taeyong knew who Haechan was now. “And I’m the moon. Whatever.”

“Hi everyone! I’m Kim Jungwoo.” One of the newer ones said. 

“I’m Johnny,” the first guy to speak said. “Korean name Seo Youngho. I hate it.”

“Same, hate Lee Minhyung, cause call me Mark, guys.”

  
“He’s from Canada!” So-called Haechan scream. “He speaks Canada too!” 

“We deadass speak English, boy you KNOW some English!” Johnny screeched. 

If this was how the unit was going to go, then Taeyong could only see disaster coming. 

The rest of the members went. One was called Doyoung, even though his real name was Dongyoung. Haechan’s real name was Lee Donghyuck. The last two members to go were foreigners, Yuta and Si Cheng, who didn’t have any Korean names yet. 

Taeyong recognized both of them. Yuta was the captain of the school’s soccer team, his first time having such position, so he was going to have a lot of responsibilities this year, just like Taeyong. The other, Si Cheng, who went by Winwin by those who couldn’t pronounce his name, was also in the Chinese Traditional Dance team that the school offered and had a main role the last time they did a performance. Both groups were really good, no doubt adding to the reputation that the school already had. 

“Well, Yuta, Si Cheng, we’ll find you guys some Korean names by the end of this meeting, okay?” Taeyong reassured them. “Now I wanted to go over the main highlights of this year-”

“Can we, like, play a game already,” Johnny said. “Why so much talking?”

“Johnny if you don’t shut the HELL up,” Jaehyun said. 

“Sorry, Jae, but you lied to me!” Johnny said. “You said there was going to be these amazing this involved and-”

“It’s his crush isn’t it,” Doyoung said. “Why else would he persuade you to join?”

“I was told there would be snacks,” Yuta raised his hand up to ask Taeyong. “When do we get them?”

Taeyong was this close to having a panic attack. 

He doesn’t remember when it happened, but at one point Jaehyun got up and took the lead, letting Taeyong sit down for sometime to catch his breath. It was already the first meeting and Taeyong couldn’t even handle it. 

However, everyone listened to Jaehyun diligently. He went through the powerpoint as if he already knew the material that was on it. He answered everyone’s questions to the best of his ability, with Taeyong occasionally piping up with the answers if Jaehyun didn’t know them. 

For the first day of school, the meeting actually went pretty well today. Taeyong could only hope that it would be like that in the future. 

\----

“You’re going to the end of summer bash this weekend?” Jaehyun asked Johnny as they were getting ready to walk home. They were all their lockers, trying to shove that one math textbook that no matter how much the other teachers go digital, the math teachers here are all old and don’t care. 

“Hell yeah,” Johnny said, locking his locker shut while Jaehyun still struggled with his. It was a pure miracle that they someone got lockers near each, only 2 lockers apart from each other. “Gotta take the bae out for some fun, you know?”

“Can you  _ not  _ use that word,” Jaehyun said, shutting his locker as well. “You’re the only guy in the world who doesn’t call his boyfriend boyfriend.”

“Because people took out the meaning of that word,” Johnny explained. “Besides, I get to call my boyfriend whatever I want as long as he’s okay with it, so there. I don’t see  _ you  _ with a boyfriend, huh, Jaehyun?” 

Jaehyun looked back behind them, to where the 127 Unit had their meeting. Taeyong was quietly locking the door with the classroom key that he gets to have. Usually leaders of a unit have to return keys to their advisors or the office, but as the president, Taeyong gets to have copies of the keys of the school. 

“I don’t have a boyfriend  _ yet _ ,” Jaehyun reminded Johnny. “I just need some time.” 

When Johnny saw who Jaehyun was looking at, he bent down and harshly whispered in the latter’s ear. “You’re taking so fucking long, Jaehyun, someone’s going to ask him out first before you do.”

“You think so?” Jaehyun whispered, only for the two to be startled when they heard Taeyong scream Jaehyun. 

The president had caught sight of them and ran towards them, giving Jaehyun a chance to give Johnny a look saying  _ Don’t you dare fucking mess this up. _

“Jaehyun, sorry, I just,” Taeyong sputtered as tried to catch his breath. “I just wanted to thank you for earlier, you know, for helping out,” Taeyong said. 

Oh, that. Jaehyun noticed that Taeyong looked like was going to have a panic attack, so Jaehyun decided to help him out. His sister used to have them, they could get really scary. “No worries, don’t think about it too much.”

But Jaehyun  _ was  _ going to think about it. All night, probably. “Thanks anyway, I have trouble quieting down people,” Taeyong continued. 

“No thanks to  _ this  _ bitch,” Jaehyun said, looking at Johnny. “Wouldn’t shut up.”

“Wait, why are you looking at me?” Johnny said. “I didn’t do anything!” 

Jaehyun and Taeyong didn’t respond, instead choosing to stare at the floor. A good awkward ten seconds. Really, they want Johnny to shut up for this? 

Of course, when Jaehyun tried to say something, Taeyong did at the same time, followed by a chorus of ‘you first’ ‘no you first’ a bunch of times. If this was how they were going to act when they weren’t dating, imagine if they were. 

Jaehyun let Taeyong go first at the end. 

“I just wanted to ask, well,” Taeyong started. “You know how each unit’s co-leader is picked by the leader?”

Jaehyun nodded. The remaining members towards the end of the year vote who will be leader for next year, thus how Taeyong had gotten his position. Then the leader in the new school year picks a co-leader to help them out. 

“Did you already find a co-leader?” Jaehyun asked. That was quick in his opinion, but yet Taeyong was leader for a reason, he must know how to make the right decisions.

“Well, you see,” Taeyong paused. “I wanted to ask if you wanted the position, but you’re busy, so-”

“No, no, that's fine, I would LOVE to be co-leader with you!” Jaehyun yelled. “Well, I mean if you’re okay with it, of course.” 

Taeyong smiled, which Johnny was pretty sure making Jaehyun going crazy in the inside. “Ok, then, that’s great!” 

“Do you want to go out to eat later?” Jaehyun blurted out. Where was this spurge of confidence coming from? “You know, as leaders? You said you needed help planning out the event at the end of this month, right? I have some ideas.”

“Oh, uh…” Taeyong doesn’t really eat out with others for dinner. “Sure? I guess?”

“Great! Here.” Jaehyun handed him his phone with the new contact tab opened, to which Taeyong took it and put his number in. “I’ll text you to see when you have time, okay?”

Taeyong handed Jaehyun’s phone back to him, to which the other raised it up and took a quick photo of Taeyong, who didn’t have any time to react. The photo came out nice, though, a photo that Jaehyun already knew he was going to cherish for a long time. 

“Wait what was that for,” Taeyong asked, trying to sneak a peek at Jaehyun’s screen. “Why did you take a picture of me?”

“Your profile picture, duh,” Jaehyun said, showing him the screen. “See, you came out looking great!”

Taeyong’s cheeks turned into a light shade of pink. “Thanks, I guess-”

“See you later, Taeyong, Jaehyun and I have something to do!” Johnny exclaimed, pulling a dazed Jaehyun away from him. “He’ll talk to you later!”   
  


***

Tuesday meetings were for the Dream Unit. 

This was a relatively new unit, as this was its first year in the running. A junior known as Mark had been trying to get it started since his freshman year, but it wasn’t until now. 

He put his textbooks that he wasn’t going to use in his locker, disappointed that his trigonometry book wasn’t one of them. It was the second day of school, why did he have so much homework already? 

“Boo!” he heard in his ear, causing him to jump. It was Donghyuck, his best friend since forever. Also the love of his life. Not that Haechan knew that. 

Ah, yes, the Haechan nickname. When they first met, Haechan couldn’t comprehend how Mark got to have another name (to which he explained he was from Canada but also Korean. Took a bit of explaining to do.) Donghyuck wanted another name too, and even though Haechan isn’t  _ exactly  _ a western name, it was cute and it stuck. 

Donghyuck was so cute. Mark really liked the way he would run around spelling Haechan in american lettering. Mark already has 3 videos of Haechan saying that. 

His mom couldn’t comprehend how Mark could call Donghyuck both names, but he didn’t mind. 

Yesterday morning, Mark had woken up and found Haechan at the door with the lovely smile on his face, chanting how it was time to eat the blueberry pancakes. Mark loved it when his best friend comes over to wake him up, but unfortunately, Mark had slept only in his boxers which embarrassed him to a great extent, not that Haechan seemed to mind. 

Just like now, Haechan was screaming into his ear when he was at his locker. So Mark turned around and screamed right back. “You can’t scare me, only my grades can!”

“Ha! Really funny,” Donghyuck said, same lovely smile plastered onto his face. “You know you love me.”

Oh he knew all right. “I don’t know half of what I know,” Mark tried to deny it. 

“That reminds me!” Donghyuck screamed. He bent down on the floor and opened his backpack, ruffling through all his papers before he pulled out a manila folder and handed it to Mark. “I did what you asked, Mr. President of the Dream Unit.”

“It’s leader, Haechan,” Mark said, but smiled and took the folder from him. Even though the Unit was for freshmen and sophomores who wanted to get adjusted to the high school life, since Mark had been trying to organize it, he as a junior got to be the leader, assigning his best friend as co-leader. “Wow, you actually did a lot of work.”

“I don’t slack off,” Haechan got up from the floor and slung his backpack back on. “This is going to be a great unit, I’m really proud of you, best friend.”

Oh, why did Haechan’s words already made his heart skip?

———

“Attention everyone!” Mark yelled as the clock turned to four. “Welcome to the first year of the NCT Dream Unit. I’m your leader, the only junior in this room, and Haechan here is the co-leader. I hope that this year becomes successful.”

There were five other people in the room. Three of them were sophomores like Haechan, named Jaemin, Jeno and Renjun, while the other two, Chen Le and Jisung were freshmen. Renjun and Chen Le were the only Chinese in the room, but they weren’t part of the WayV unit. 

“I hope this unit works,” Jaemin said, “because I could really use some help on my English homework.”

“Mark speaks Canada,” Haechan explained in English, which only made Mark slapped himself in the head.

“Canada is not a language!” Mark yelled. “Just like how Mexico isn’t one either!”

“Oh, Canada,” Haechan continued in English. Mark loved his friend but he wanted to slap him. 

“English and Korean too hard,” Chen Le said in English.

“For the last time, your Korean is good!” Jisung yelled back in their native language. “Why do you always criticize yourself?”

“Renjun has the opposite problem, he criticizes everyone,” Jaemin said. 

“Says the guy who sleeps with socks on.”

“See! He did it again!” 

Aside from the usual bickering, the meeting went well. Mark explained to the freshmen how the school worked and best routes to get to which classes, which hallways to avoid, which teachers were more lenient. For the sophomores he explained about their classes and how tougher the teachers got on you as sophomores. He felt weird, being the one in the room with the most experience, but it didn’t backfired once. Even when Haechan kept talking about how he wanted to eat the hotdog. 

Yep, the love of his life right there folks!   
  


***

Xiaojun was really looking forward to the WayV meeting on Wednesday. 

It isn’t everyday that your parents move you from your hometown in Guangdong to some city in South Korea. See, Xiaojun didn’t even know where he lived! This was a problem. 

Like the first day of school. Xiaojun  _ never  _ went by his real name Dejun. As far as he could remember, he had been going by his nickname. His classmates would even forget his real name until every once in a while there would be a substitute who would say Xiao Dejun. And every single teacher here has been calling him Dejun. Some even ask if he has a Korean name instead.

He had already completed two years in high school and had two more to go. Why move during the middle of it? Oh, why? Because his dad cheated on his mom and didn’t want to take Xiaojun in, so his mom not only had to find a job to support herself, but his father wouldn’t let her keep the house either. 

That bitch. He made Xiaojun’s school life suffer, of course, but he had been married to XIaojun’s mom for 25 years! And the reason for the affair? He didn’t want to date someone old. As if he weren’t almost 60. He was sleeping with a woman 4 years older than Xiaojun! Disgusting!

Well, the past was the past. He didn’t blame his mom for moving him here; if he had a husband who did that, he would go to jail for murder. Disrespectful bitch. 

He was delightful to have discovered in his mother’s belongings the other day that the house is actually in her name, so Xiaojun told his aunt, who had moved here with them in order to be at her sister’s side, who was going to help him get all the legal stuff in order. Even if his mother wanted to stay here in Korea, she could at least use the money on herself, she deserved it. 

Here Xiaojun was in Korean literature class as the teacher was taking roll call. She was getting close to the X’s. It’s the third day, why doesn’t she know by now??

And he was right. “Xiao Dejun?” she called out, only mortifying him even more.”

“He goes by Xiaojun,” he heard someone in the back say. 

_ That  _ was surprising. Xiaojun swerved around his chair and stared at the classmates. “Which one of you guys said it,” he whispered.

“Is Dejun here or not?” The teacher said. 

“Oh, present!” Xiaojun said, not caring that she said it wrong again. Someone remembered his nickname! He’s finally doing progress in this stupid school. 

This was the only reason he was in smiles on his way to the WayV meeting.  _ They  _ won’t ask him for a Korean name.  _ They  _ won’t read his name from a class list sheet. He's going to be his own person!   
  


——

When he walked into the classroom, there were already four people in there. One of them was extremely tall and was picking up some papers that had created a mess on the floor, while two other guys were laughing at him. The other male actually sitting in a chair was painting his nails and calling them out. 

“Lucas, how  _ stupid  _ can you be?” he said. 

The one picking up the papers said, “everyone says I’m a bit stupid.”

“No, Yangyang here is more stupid,” one of the guys said. “Look, he even put his shirt backwards.”

“Excuse you, I had to change in the dark!” Yangyang said. “My sister broke the lightbulbs in my house.”

“Can you guys  _ help  _ me, Kun’s gonna beat my ass!” Lucas yelled. 

“Don’t worry, I’ll record it,” Yangyang said when two other guys walked in the room; both stopped in their tracks when they saw the mess in the room.

Xiaojun recognized one of them from his first class, the one who spoke first. “You know, I had a whole speech prepared and everything,” he said. “But you had to make a mess.”

“It was Hendery’s fault,” Lucas said, earning a slap on his arm. 

“You liar!” 

“You know, I regret not taking Yuta’s offer to go to the movies,” the other male said. 

“Yuta-ge!” Yangyang screeched. “The soccer captain! He’s so cool!"

“He’s a weeb,” the one painting his nails said. “Just like you. You guys would all get along. And is no one going to notice the new guy?” 

All eyes looked around for a second or two until they came in contact with Xiaojun, who had backed himself towards the chalkboard when he entered the room. “...hey,” he muttered. 

“Oh, Xiaojun, you’re here!” the guy from his class said. “Cool, we could always use new members.”

“Hopefully replacing Yangyang’s dumbass,” the other guy continued. “Are you not going to introduce me, Kun?”

“Can you calm down, Ten, Si Cheng hasn’t met Hendery or Yangyang either,” Kun said. “Guys let’s form a circle, Hendery, help Lucas pick up those papers, you too Yangyang.”   
  


“You know, as the leader Kun, you should do it to set an example,” Ten said. “So that others can follow your lead.”

Kun raised an eye at Ten. “Would you?”

“Point taken.”

The group each pulled up a chair to form a circle, Xiaojun close behind following their movements. He was trying to think why Kun’s voice sounded familiar…

When they all sat down in their seat, Xiaojun stuck between Lucas and Si Cheng, that’s when he pointed at Kun. “You’re the guy who corrected the teacher this morning!”

“Yep, that’s me,” Kun said. “You already told her two times you didn’t go by Dejun but she still called you that.”

“You’re the first person to remember that,” Xiaojun commented. 

“I mean, it’s a name, I don’t know why people act like it’s so hard to call you what you go by,” Kun said. “It’s a simple act of kindness.”

Xiaojun had a feeling that Kun did more acts of kindness anyways. 

***

Thursday was committee day (or as the stupid school called it, NCT U). 

Students were expected to help do service projects, so many formed committees or take part of one to help out. Last year, the committee that raised the most amount of funds was one of the committees that Taeyong was in, along with Jaehyun, Mark, Si Cheng, Doyoung, Jungwoo, and Lucas, which was another reason that people voted for Taeyong to be president of their class. It was an entire project that he had made up on its own and is one of the school’s most successful one to date. 

There was a lot of little things that Taeyong organized that just gradually build up. He was really excited for how this year was going to play off. 

The seven of them decided to be in the same one together again this year. Their first meeting, however, wasn’t at school; instead, they decided to hold it at Taeyong’s house like they always did last year. 

They all sat in the living room, with Taeyong handing out packs of oreos, their “national cookie” (Mark’s words.) Last time, they wanted to vote on the national ice cream flavor, but that was their last meeting of the year so they didn’t get time to discuss, so as an icebreaker and refreshing on today’s meeting, that’s what they all started with. 

“Clearly, mint chocolate chip is superior and I don’t take anyone’s opinion, sorry,” Mark said, earning a frown from Lucas. 

“Man, look, we  _ all  _ know cookie dough is the bomb, man!” Lucas said, waving his hands in the air. “Eating chocolate chip without the cookie dough is nasty, and don’t get me started on the mint!”

“I like vanilla,” Jungwoo said, “because you can make it as a base for many types of sundaes.”

“That’s boring though,” Mark argued. “Mint chocolate chip, people don’t like it unless they are intellectuals.”

“Chocolate,” was Si Cheng’s only reply. 

“I don’t know why you guys are arguing about an ice cream flavor,” Doyoung said. “Just write down the flavors you liked from 1 to 3 and the one with the most votes is the national ice cream.”

Taeyong just munched on his orea while sitting on a kitchen chair, knees hugged to his chest. He was going to give them five minutes to argue about it or until one of them is about to beat up another.

“Taeyong, what’s your favorite flavor?” Jaehyun asked, startling him. “You haven’t said anything yet.”

Yep, the confirmed co-leader of the 127 unit. Taeyong hasn’t made the announcement yet, wanting to do it to the whole group next Monday, but Jaehyun was the first one to come to his house today to prepare for the meeting, and he had been talking about his ideas with Taeyong. Jaehyun was really smart, in Taeyong’s opinion, so the 127 unit was in good hands. 

Taeyong quickly swallowed his bite of the oreo before answering. “Neapolitan,” Taeyong said. “Three flavors in one is good, and if you only like one of them, you can just grab from that side.”

Jaehyun nodded. “I guess we’re kind of alike. Strawberry is my favorite one. If we share some ice cream, it can be neapolitan."

Taeyong’s cheeks tinged into a light pink color. Yes, the color of strawberry indeed. In fact, Jaehyun didn’t have a favorite ice cream, but the color was always displayed on Taeyong’s face, so eating it always reminded him of that. Although now with neopolitan he was going to remember him, too.

“You want to share ice cream?” Taeyong asked. Now it was Jaehyun’s turn for the heat to crawl up his neck and face. 

“I-I mean, yeah, sure, if you want,” Jaehyun said, only for them to be interrupted by the other group. “Now what did you guys do?”

“The national ice cream is cookies n cream,” Lucas explained, high fiving Mark and Doyoung. “A solid contender.” 

“Besides, there’s mint and chocolate versions, too,” Mark added. “It can be mixed with a lot of stuff.”

“Well, since you guys finished discussing about that, I guess we can get started.” Taeyong stood up and grabbed a folder from the table beside him. “I have the stats from last year’s effort if anyone wants to see them, but as we celebrated last time, we raised the most amount of money and beat our goal.”

“That’s ‘cause we’re the best,” Mark said. 

“Yeah, we have to make no one beats our record this year!” Lucas said, earning a high five from Mark. 

Taeyong rolled his eyes. “The point isn’t about winning, this isn’t a competition, it’s about helping others in need. Do you guys have anything in particular you want to do?”

Most committees usually focus on only one project, but Taeyong likes to help out whichever one doesn’t have help at the moment. Many students had been working on collecting food and clothes, donating money for disease awareness groups, and other stuff. Which was one they haven’t worked on yet?

“Oh, I have an idea!” Lucas said. “There are some students here who are homeless, why don’t we raise money for housing?”

Doyoung stared at him. “Homeless? Who here is homeless?”

“Oh, I know someone,” Mark said. “He’s in the Dream unit but he doesn’t like people to know.” Specifically Jaemin, they figured out at the end of the meeting. Instead of having him get picked up by car like everyone else (except Haechan, he _always_ went to Mark’s house after school - not that it helped with Mark’s emotions), Jaemin was picked up by his mom and they walked together back home. They thought it was weird since Jaemin has mentioned he lived far from school, and when Mark and Haechan went to the park later and saw Jaemin walked out of the known homeless shelter, they put two and two together. He could be visiting a family or a friend, but he once said that it’s just his mother and little brother. Still, Mark and Haechan weren’t going to out him. 

“That would be a good idea,” Jaehyun said. “Maybe we could raise money to afford them rent for a month or two and help them find a job? The thing with jobs is that they don’t want to hire homeless people, which makes no sense because how are they supposed to get back on their feet?"

“Yeah, like my mom couldn’t find a job for 3 months straight when we were living in the homeless facility,” Lucas said, everyone staring at him in shock. “But some people from a group helped her look nice and we were able to get out of there two months later once she saved up money.”

“You were  _ homeless? _ ” Mark asked him. “Since when?”

“Oh, I was in eighth grade,” Lucas said, “it was a while ago. The food was good, though, they had volunteers who were so nice.”

“Is everyone okay on working on this project?” Taeyong said, earning nods from everyone. “Jungwoo, Si Cheng? You guys haven’t said anything.”

Jungwoo had just stuffed his face with two oreos and stared at Taeyong a good ten seconds before swallowing. “Sounds good to me.”

“I think we should also raise money to buy them some food and clothes,” Si Cheng added. “Because the shelters usually provide them that as well. Make sure they’re stocked up on hygiene, etc. And we also have to take into account bills and stuff.”

“Good point,” Taeyong said. “Doyoung, do you think you’ll be able to calculate the monthly costs for families of 2, 3, 4 and 5?”

“Shouldn’t be too hard,” Doyoung said. “I should have it by the end of next week, but for now we should start with a fundraiser."

“Let’s sell ice cream during lunch,” Jaehyun said. “People have always complained about not having it. And besides, it’s still summer outside, who  _ isn’t  _ going to be hot?”

“I still think mint chocolate chip is better.”\

“FOR THE LAST TIME, COOKIE DOUGH!”   
  
***

Friday didn’t have a specific event scheduled since it was the start of the school year. Everyone carried on with their daily lives. Mark gave Haechan matching bracelets. Jaehyun gave Taeyong an ice cream cone. Lucas and Jungwoo kept tripping and catching each other. Si Cheng caught that Yuta staring at him again. Kun asked Xiaojun to be his partner in a project for class. 

Yep, everything was normal. Or crazy. Normally crazy. 

Or so they thought.

\----

Back in the United States, a guy who went by the name Lee Jihoon worked in a main position at NASA. 

A few months back, the organization has launched a satellite to orbit around the Milky Way galaxy, as given orders by the Department of Defense. Jihoon wasn’t given the reason, not high enough in his position to be given reasons, but he did have one friend who did - Kwon Soonyoung. 

From what Soonyoung had told him, the government simply wanted to know in case there was any “disturbance”, not that he knew what it meant. Where they talking about a star exploding? Some meteors? Or maybe  _ aliens. _

One night while playing Soonyoung’s new nintendo switch at his house, Jihoon had jokingly told him his theory that the government thought aliens were going to attack them or something. Soonyoung didn’t laugh, though; he just told Jihoon he didn’t know what was out there. 

Jihoon won’t find out until later that they would know the answer to that very soon. 


	2. Confusion

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Forgive me if you don't understand science jargon, it's not that bad I promise; if you don't understand it, it's just proof of aliens whatever, it's the plot of this book

Of course his alarm had to go off on Saturday, he must have forgotten to turn it off again. 

Mark grabbed his phone nearby the nightstand and pressed on it five times, desperately trying to hit the snooze button. 

“Peace and quiet,” he muttered to himself, pulling the blanket closer to his chest. 

“MARKKKKKKKKK!” Haechan slammed the door opened and set his bag down on the study, already kicking off his shoes. “I’m so excited to- what the heck? Mark, why are you asleep?”

Why was Donghyuck here? It wasn’t a school day. Or was it? Hold on, Monday was the 127 unit meeting, Tuesday they had the Dream unit meeting, Wednesday…..what did he do Wednesday? Was today Wednesday?

“Shit, I’m going to be late for school!” Mark screeched, throwing his covers off him and tried to find his pants since he was only wearing boxers again-

Shit, Donghyuck was in the room again!

Haechan only gave him a look. “What do you mean today is Wednesday? Today’s Saturday, dummy.”

Mark had his jeans halfway on and stopped, giving Haechan a look. “Then why did you wake me up?”

“Okay, first of all, you texted me last night that you were going to set an alarm at 10.” Donghyuck explained. “And it’s ten, I thought you were already awake, sorry to wake you, by the way.”

Mark shrugged. “At least we have no school today-wait, what are we doing today again? Sorry, I haven’t had my coffee yet.” 

Haechan pouted. “For the last time, Mark, I told you that you really need to start cutting down your caffeine habits, you’re not even a senior yet.” He opened his bag that he had thrown on the study and took out some boxes. “And I didn’t tell you why I was coming, only to expect me.”

“But  _ whyyyyy _ ,” Mark drawled out, eyes half closed. “I want to sleep.”

“You didn’t sleep at 2am, didn’t you,” Haechan said, setting the boxes down to put his hands on his hips ready to scold his friend. “See,  _ this  _ is why you always need coffee! You don’t have a good sleep schedule.”

“Haechan, even if you sleep over, you won’t be able to make me go to sleep,” Mark said. He got on his bed and sat down, still holding on to the jeans that had one of his feet in. “I’ll just wait till you’re asleep and then get on my phone.”

“Fine, because now I’m sleeping over today,” Haechan said. “And do you want to open your presents or not?”

That made Mark sit up straight. He looked over to where Haechan had set the boxes; what could possibly be in there? “Haechan, why did you get me presents, it’s not like it’s my birthday or anything?”

Haechan grabbed them off the floor and sighed. “Mark, you literally gave me bracelets yesterday, and no, I’ve had this gift planned since last week, I didn’t copy you. And maybeeeeee….” Haechan put the big boxes on Mark’s bed and took out an envelope from his jacket. “If you read the  _ card  _ I wrote you’ll understand.”

Mark sat back down on the bed, forgetting for a minute that he still had only boxers on. He grabbed the envelope and wanted to laugh; it was red but Haechan had hand drawn a bunch of random symbols on it; a balloon, congratulations! In english (spelled correctly, Mark noticed), stars everyone-

A heart. 

Mark opened the envelope and pulled out the card; it wasn’t the type of ones you buy from the store, no, this was also handmade. Haechan had folded a piece of cream-colored cardstock and had drawn a handful of stars on the front with Congratulations! again in big bold letters. Donghyuck had a really steady hand, compared to Mark who couldn’t sit still most of the time. And panicky. Yeah, Mark was always panicking. 

He opened the card and the entire two sides were  _ filled  _ with Korean writing. This was a long letter, and Mark bet ten bucks he was going to cry by the end of it. 

Usually he never read cards aloud, so they sat there for a good minute in silence as Mark read the letter. 

_ Dear Mark,  _

_ I’m so happy that you have finally been able to create the Dream Unit here at school! I know you’ve been trying for two whole years and, even though you won’t be getting help like freshman and sophomores, it’s nice that you still wanted that opportunity for other people. Last year you also did so much work in your committee as well, you put so much effort into that. The way you’re always caring for people tears my heart so much, the way you’re so understanding, so compassionate, how you can always lend a shoulder for someone to cry on. You’re so a good person, a good classmate, an amazing friend, and I’m proud to call you my best friend.  _

_ -Haechan _

He could feel a tear dripping down his face and he couldn’t handle looking at Donghyuck. “Haechan-”

“Don’t deny any of it,” Haechan said, laying out the boxes in a nice formation on Mark’s bed. “I know what you’re going to say that it’s not true, that you’re not a good person, all lies by the way, now open the boxes!”

Mark grabbed his blanket and tried to dry his face before grabbing the biggest box. They were all a bit flat, but still pretty thick. He took off the tape and opened it for it to reveal-

“Oh my gosh, you got the police station Lego set!” Mark yelled, jumping out of the bed clutching the box to his chest. “My lego collection will be  _ complete _ !!!” 

Mark, indeed, has a lego collection that has started since he turned 10 years old (already friends with Haechan, he should add.) He has two large kitchen tables in the basement specifically for his legos, collecting from Lego City to Star Wars to Ninjago and everything in between. 

The basement was pretty cool, unlike those in horror movies. It was almost like a second house, with a huge couch that spanned the entire area of the living room, with a giant television with three different gaming consoles. There was a small kitchen with snacks stacked up, and the free space was the kitchen tables that was already running out of room. Mark was going to have to save up more money. 

“Mark, it’s not the  _ only  _ one I got you, and we have all day to build them.” Haechan took out his flip flops from his bag, not liking to walk around barefoot. “Open the others and decide which one you want to build first, also, I think you’re going to need another table soon.”

Mark scrambled to grab the other boxes and was already out the door when he realized he didn’t have any jeans on. “ _ Shit!”  _ he screamed, going back to where his jeans were and throwing the boxes on his bed before putting them on. “The second time in a row!”

Donghyuck laughed and picked up the boxes when Mark went to put on a shirt. “Mark, it’s hot outside, of course you’re going to be naked!”   
  
\---

He was on his bed when he heard a ping. 

Taeyong was on his bed, wearing his normal white tanktop and boyshorts, watching some Korean drama on TV. He always got up at 7 am everyday, so after waking up and eating breakfast, he had already been watching TV for an hour. He hadn’t touched his phone for a while, so when he heard it make a sound, he was almost startled. 

He put down his cup of homemade raw cookie dough that he had been eating (beat that, Lucas) and picked up the phone. It was a message from Jaehyun. 

_ Hey _

That’s all it said, hey. Frowning, Taeyong opened up the message app and replied back. 

_ hey to you too  _

He paused the drama that was showing on the television to focus on his phone. Jaehyun always replied quickly so Taeyong could never do something else in the meantime. 

Another blue bubble appeared, signifying Jaehyun’s response. 

_ What r u doing right now? _

Well, Taeyong wasn’t really doing anything, but was Jaehyun asking because he had something in mind?

_ I’m just watching a show in my room, u? _

The bubbles appeared soon enough. Jaehyun was a really fast typer. 

_ Do you want to go out and eat ice cream soon? I mean only if u really want to go, I understand if you’re doing other stuff _

Ice cream?

Looks like Jaehyun wanted to hang out today, that was a first. Taeyong never got invitations to go out with others, so Jaehyun was now forever going to be remembered as his first. 

He quickly sent out a text while he got up from his bed, heading towards his dresser. He was probably going to wear his favorite jeggings, the soft ones with the big pockets and light wash color, but…. It was too repetitive. 

There in the back of his closet were some jeans that he liked to wear but never got the chance. They were dark wash, with a low-rise waist and some rips, but they were prohibited at school and he didn’t want to get in trouble, although most students got away with it anyways. 

Good thing today was Saturday. 

\---

The way Taeyong licked his ice cream was so cute. 

Jaehyun was usually called a psycho for biting his ice cream, but it’s not his fault! He just didn’t see the point in licking it if it was going to take longer AND the ice cream was going to melt. What was the point in all that? 

But now he has seen the light. Taeyong gave kitten licks and turned the ice cream cone around and his hand, his eyes filled with excitement as he took another lick. The way Taeyong was so enthusiastic about everything made Jaehyun’s heart turn. 

Taeyong arrived at the ice cream parlor, his usual hoodie on, but he had been wearing some jeans Jaehyun has never seen before. Taeyong  _ always  _ wears the same jeggings, but these ripped jeans? Man, they do Taeyong justice. 

Guys at school always joke about how Taeyong had no ass, but wearing those jeans help him make it up with his nice pretty legs. 

Jaehyun was in the mood for strawberry as soon as he saw Taeyong, so that’s what he got; his classic two scoops on top strawberry with a wafer stick on the side. Taeyong, however, didn’t get neopolitan; instead, he got a bubble gum scoop and a blueberry cheesecake scoop. 

Taeyong kept licking the ice cream when Jaehyun asked him, “I thought neopolitan was your favorite flavor?”

Jaehyun felt a bit guilty when he saw Taeyong look up apologetic. “Yeah, I know, it’s just I have a rule when my parents and I get ice cream,” Taeyong said. “I always try to get good-sounding flavors that you can’t get at the store."

Jaehyun nodded. “That’s a pretty good rule, really. I always get the same flavors."

“Oh, you can try this if you want,” Taeyong offered, holding his ice cream scoop towards Jaehyun.    
  


Yo, did his crush just offer him an indirect  _ kiss,  _ technically?   
  


Jaehyun was starting to internally freak out when he realized that Taeyong was still holding the ice cream cone towards him, so Jaehyun leaned over and took a bite.

It tasted funny, but had a nice tangy flavor to it. “It’s good,” he told Taeyong, “This is my first time trying blueberry cheesecake.”

“They also have strawberry cheesecake, since you like strawberry.” Taeyong took another lick, right where Jaehyun’s tongue had been. Gosh, he sounded like a 16-year-old- wait he’s 17…… 

“I’ll try it next time.” Jaehyun took a bite out of the wafer that was given to him. “Have you tried every flavor?”

“Here? No, but when I do, I’ll try to find another Mexican ice cream shop, that’s where they have all the eccentric flavors,” Taeyong explained. 

They ate some more of their ice cream in silence, Jaehyun having ate so much he already bit half the cone, while Taeyong had just finished the blueberry cheesecake scoop and going for the bubble gum scoop. That’s when Jaehyun asked him about the end-of-summer bash. 

Taeyong paused his licking. “What about it?”

“Are you going this year?” Jaehyun asked him. “This year Yuta is throwing it."

Taeyong shrugged. “I’m not invited.”

“Well, if you want to go, you can be my plus one,” Jaehyun offered. “It’s fun, they have like these extreme water slides, so much good food, okay, there’s  _ some  _ alcohol,” he explained, “but honestly, everyone has such a good time.”

Taeyong thought about it. He was planning on pulling an all-nighter tonight trying to come up with more ideas for Monday’s meeting, but summer was also his favorite season and he wanted to commemorate the end of it. 

He nodded. “Yeah, I’d love to come.”

\---

Someone rang the doorbell, it must be Kun. They were assigned a short mini-project on Friday that must be completed with a partner, and as soon as the teacher said you could pick anyone, XIaojun mentally groaned inside. Five days into South Korea’s education system did  _ not  _ mean he suddenly felt comfortable in class asking someone to be his partner. Luckily Kun had saved him from that misery when he asked him later, so at least Xiaojun wasn’t stuck alone. 

Xiaojun jumped off the couch and ran towards the door, peering the peephole to reveal that, yes, it was Kun outside. Xiaojun removed the locks and opened the door, drawing in Kun’s attention. ‘Hey, you came,” he said in Mandarin.

“Yeah, I was scared of going to the wrong address,” Kun said. “But at least I made it here on time.”

Xiaojun opened the door wider to let Kun come in, the other walking slowly to admire the view of the house. “I like this place.”

“Um, thanks I guess?” Xiaojun said. Most of this stuff wasn’t his mothers, it was his aunt who had given it to her. The house was way smaller than the one they had back in China, but a house was a house, and Xiaojun felt bad complaining about it. His mother wasn’t even at home right now, she had asked for overtime hours at her new jobs. She had taken out some loans for this house, and it was critical that she paid them off straight away. 

“So, um, where do you want to work?” Xiaojun asked Kun. “Living room table, kitchen table, my bed, do you have a preference?”

“I guess the kitchen table,” Kun answered. “Larger and more steady.”

Xiaojun nodded and grabbed his book bag that he had on the couch and led Kun to the kitchen. The table  _ probably  _ wasn’t what Kun expected, but it still had room for the two of them. 

The table was always set with a different fruit; today, his mother had stacked kiwis to form a circle around three dragon fruit. 

“The fruit arrangement is pretty,” Kun commented, sitting at one of the three chairs. “I really like it.”

“Thanks, my mother did it.” Xiaojun pulled out the seat beside Kun and open his backpack, taking out his binder for Korean literature class. “She’s good at organization.”

Kun nodded in agreement. “And has good taste in fruit. Kiwis are so delicious.”

Xiaojun wanted to say that those were actually  _ his  _ kiwis, his mother hated them with a passion. She was more of a grape fan, but-

Wait, why was he arguing about fruit in his head?

For the next hour, they continued on doing their work, going off-topic here and there, mainly about where they were from and Kun being impressed with Xiaojun’s cantonese. Kun started about a party tonight where Lucas, Hendery and Yangyang were going to crash and promptly steal all the apples for a food war. 

“Oh, the bash or something?” Xiaojun asked him. “Some kids were talking about it in class, are you going?”

Kun shook his head. “Nah, not really. I like to stay in my room,” he said. “I don’t mind being alone."

This guy who actually had friends in this stupid school prefrred to be alone? What is wrong with him? Xiaojun would rather die than be alone for the rest of his life. Oh, if his mother ...no. He wouldn’t think of that. 

“What do you even  _ do _ in your room?” Xiaojun asked. “Throw your own dance party with a good helping of nachos?”

“Why, what’s wrong with-wait, that’s overly specific.” Kun put down his pencil to look at Xiaojun. “Is that what you do?”

Wow, okay, Xiaojun needed to shut his mouth for once in his life. But why did he have to deny it? It’s not like people are going to watch him anyways. “Yeah, so? What’s wrong with dancing in your room by yourself?”

“Yeah, I like to sing along,” Kun said. “You should come to my house, we have these good speakers and a really good dance floor in the basement. I always have the time of my life there.”   
  
\---

Si Cheng never thought he’d get invited to this lit what-ever party this is. 

He was really surprised when Yuta asked him on Friday if he wanted to go as his plus one. Si Cheng had asked him if the person throwing it was okay with bringing extra people, to which Yuta said, “Si Cheng, that’s me, why do you think I asked?”

That shook him to no end. 

So he arrived early to Yuta’s place where the latter was setting it up with some of his friends. There were boxes and boxes of pizza on the counters, coolers lined up around the house to which Johnny was filling them up with some ice. Yuta carried up some boxes from the basement, for which Si Cheng had offered to help unload them.

“Si Cheng, I didn’t invite you to do labor,” Yuta said, trying to move Si Cheng’s hand away. “I invited you to have a good time.”

Si Cheng shrugged. “It’s no problem-oh,” he said when he saw the boxes name on front. It was a generic beer, with a low-amount of alcohol. “Really? Why this brand, this is disgusting."

Yuta laughed. “You drink?"

“Time to time with my parents,” Si Cheng said. “But they have good stuff, this? I hate this brand.” He opened the box and started unloading it into the cooler along with Yuta. “I’m not a lightweight, though, so I don’t drink to get drunk or whatever, only to eat with food.”

“Oh, I don’t drink at  _ all,”  _ Yuta said. “I’m a light-weight, plus, if you’re in sports you’re not allowed to,” he added. “I’m not risking it for, what, wheat juice?”

Yuta was the captain of the school’s soccer team, a recognized sports team in their school. They have won multiple awards in the country and globally, and Yuta is the one who lead them the victory cup in South Korea last year, hence why he was voted as captain. Yuta was really good, Si Cheng had noticed; he had gone to a few games last year, before Yuta was leader, and he did a  _ lot  _ of work on the field. He was really curious on how Yuta was going to be this year as captain. 

Yuta had been offering him to go to places together lately, however. A trip to the movies, checking out a new restaurant, going to a school event as friends. It was peculiar, but nonetheless, Yuta was still a good friend. 

Now they just had to enjoy this party together. 

\---

Two people were having a party of their own. 

Not really. Jihoon was at Soonyoung’s house playing Mario Kart again, with Jihoon winning this time. The two of them would get  _ super  _ competitive over the game and have almost lost their friendship twice. Good times. 

However, now when Soonyoung lifted a bowl, he tripped and got salsa inside his shirt, so he shouted for Jihoon to quickly pause the game while he went to the bathroom to wash up. 

Jihoon didn’t want to pause it; he was going to lose his winning flow when they jump back in the game. Even so, he did pause it, and while waiting for Soonyoung, decided to review the papers from work. 

Some were normal, some really well; they might be able to conclude the finding of ten new binary star systems. This was good news! He kept reviewing the papers until one caught his attention. 

It was an astronomical object, but he didn’t know how to quite define it. A planet, a star? No, it wasn’t a star, wasn’t composed of gases, but….

Something was wrong. 

The heat detected was in different spot; it would make sense if it was occurring volcanos or other weird shit. Some planets had geysers or pockets of hot gases. But this heat… was different... 

“Jihoon, are you doing work again?” Soonyoung asked, drying his bare chest with a towel. “You don’t have to stress about last week-”

“Hoshi,” Jihoon said, using their old childhood nicknames again. He lifted up the piece of paper that he was holding. “This is just like last week.”

Soonyoung frowned. “What do you mean? I’m confused.”

“It’s the same evidence,” Jihoon said. “I’m confused, too. This doesn’t make any sense.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry if it's advancing too slow, I need to set up some background before we get the A C T I O N started. These chapters are longer than what I usually write, and I am hoping to keep it that way.


	3. We Have A Problem

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> if you guys havent listened to tvxq catch me you guys are missing so much

“Jaehyun is co-leader?” Mark asked when they were dropped the news on Monday. 

“Hey, Jeffrey, can we  _ please  _ put on TVXQ now?” Johnny asked. He opened up his backpack and pulled out a portable bluetooth speaker. “You said you hate hearing it alone, now there’s a whole ass group here.”

“Changmin is a god,” Taeil confirmed. 

“We should put Catch Me, it’s a good song,” Jungwoo said. 

Johnny turned to Yuta. “Hey, there’s this korean band you should listen to-”

“They  _ literally  _ always come to Japan,” Yuta said, “I’m not stupid. Yunho had some weird cologne last time I saw them-”

“YOU MET TVXQ?” Donghyuck screamed. Another meeting where Taeyong wasn’t going to have control. “TELL ME EVERYTHING-”

“Can you guys shut up,” Jaehyun said. Maybe Jaehyun would be a better-no, totally would be a better leader. “Taeyong has something planned for today.”

With that, Taeyong took out his stack of papers from his folder. “So what I thought would be a good idea today is to-”

“Watch TVXQ?” Johnny said, getting a smack from Jaehyun. “Bitch, the fuck, why did you SLAP ME?”

“I thought we could learn the korean traditional instruments, like the gayageum,” he explained. He heard a lot of them muttering under his breath but pretended not to hear them. “So we are going to the music room today!"

“Instruments!” Jungwoo yelled. 

“A gayageum?” Yuta looked confused. “What’s that?”

“Um, here, hold on.” Taeyong spread apart the papers on the desk, trying to find a specific one. He could feel everyone staring at him. 

“Here, it’s the, um, oh, the Japanese have one similar called the koto,” Taeyong explained. 

“Ohhhhh, okay,” Yuta nodded in response.

Si Cheng turned to look at him. “What is that,” he whispered to Yuta beside him. 

“It’s like this long board with strings on it,” Yuta explained. “I can’t really describe it, um, is there a Chinese equivalent?” Yuta asked Taeyong. 

“Um, so in Chinese…” Taeyong looked at the paper again. “..... the guzheng,” he said, Si Cheng nodding in understanding.

“Wait,  _ you  _ know how to play the gayageum?” Johnny asked Taeyong. “Or are we just going to go in and start playing random strings?”

“You can’t even play a recorder,” Mark argued. “Who’s going to let you play random strings?”

“Uh, excuse me, American education is centered on playing Hot Cross Buns,” Johnny argued back. “I can totally play a recorder.”

“I miss it when Mark played a flute.” Donghyuck sighed. “Really lovely."

“Hey, I still know how to play it,” Mark said. “It’s in my room, you can look at it whenever you want-”

“Yeah but you don’t play it,” Donghyuck said. “What’s the point?”

“Wait, you guys didn’t learn instruments in primary school?” Jungwoo asked. “We got to learn to play the violins.” 

“Oh, you can play hot cross buns on the violin too-”

“Johnny, why do I get the feeling that your hungry,” Jaehyun asked him. 

In the end, it took at  _ least  _ ten minutes for the group to calm down and finally head out to the music room, obviously some of them arguing on their way there. 

Taeyong actually  _ does  _ know how to play the gayageum. He had taken six years of lessons back in elementary and middle school but stopped playing it when he sprained his wrist freshman year and never officially went back at it. He still remembers some of the scales and songs, though, and he had stayed up all night Sunday trying to brush up his skills again. 

The club had four gayageums that they could use, so Taeyong took one and three of the members, Mark, Taeil and Si Cheng went first to try to learn it, with the others watching. 

“Wait a second, you can  _ totally  _ play hot cross buns with this instrument-"

“FOR THE LAST FUCKING TIME, JOHNNY-”   
  


***

Meanwhile, after school Monday, Xiaojun was at his locker trying to get his books to go home. 

He almost wanted to cry when he pulled out his thick math textbook and realized he had to stuff it in his backpack. Sure, he could have carried it in his arm like every high schooler who tried to look cool but it would just make his arms hurt. So in the backpack it went. 

He got on his knees and took some stuff out, including some notebooks and his beloved fluffy pencil pouch, his most prized school possession. It can easily become a pillow for when class gets too boring. If he ever loses it he will scream. 

He took out most of the books, so he settled for now stuffing the monstrosity textbook in the backpack. He could feel something in the bottom, though, that was making it jut out, so he reached his hand in to try to fix it. 

“Are you looking for something?” 

Xiaojun looked up to see Kun, who was smiling. “How was school today?” Kun asked him.

Xiaojun made a face. “You sound like my mom.” 

“Oh, didn’t know it was a bad thing.”

Xiaojun rolled his eyes. “I never said it was.” 

He turned his backpack upside down, spilling the contents on the floor. “I know this looks weird,” he told Kun, “but I really need my textbook to fit.”

“Oh, I can carry it if you want,” Kun said. 

Xiaojun frowned. “Carry it? I’m walking home.”

“Oh, well, um, I can walk you home if you want?” Kun corrected himself, “while carrying said book.”

“It’s no trouble, I just need to-” he stuff the book in his backpack, only to realize that it took up most of the space. “Dang it. It won’t fit.”

He  _ really  _ didn’t want to carry the heavy-ass book home, but Kun was offering…

“I can’t just use you to carry my book home,” Xiaojun said. “I can just carry it myself.”

“Okay, then, but here.” Kun bent down and held a stack of Xiaojun’s notebooks. “I’ll help you hand your stuff back.”

Xiaojun took it from Kun, eyeing him suspiciously. “You’re being too nice to me.”

“I’m not going to frame you for murder if that’s what your thinking,” Kun said. “That came out weird. Um, I promised I’m not murdering anyone, Yangyang made a comment about that earlier, and well, please don’t tell the police.”

Xiaojun’s suspicions only continued to grow. “Is that why you offered to come to my house, to murder me?”

Kun just sighed. “I botched that introduction, didn’t I?”

“Don’t worry, I talk about perfect ways to commit a murder to my mom and she gets tempted to get me a therapist.” Xiaojun packed the rest of his back pack the way it was before, stuffy his fluffy pencil pouch on top before zipping it shut. “Memes really do wonders for you.”

“Well, I know nothing about murder, but I’ll remember not to get you angry,” Kun said. 

“Thank you.” Xiaojun got up from the floor and slung the back pack on his back. “I can’t  _ believe  _ I have to carry that ugly ass thing home.”

“Yeah, no wonder they charge a lot of money if you lose it,” Kun said. He grabbed the book and also got off the floor, despite Xiaojun’s protests. 

“Kun, you’re not my maid, don’t-give me that.” He grabbed the heavy textbook from Kun. “You don’t have to carry things for me.”

“Okay, I’m sorry.” Kun stared at the floor for a few seconds before saying, “can I still walk you home, though?”

Xiaojun shrugged. “If you have the time to waste walking, sure. I usually take my time."

Kun shrugged. “I don’t have anything due tomorrow, so…”

“Wait, what?” Xiaojun stared at him. “What do you mean, you have no work? That’s impossible, we were just assigned a packet in Korean lit class! Or did you forget?"

Kun shook his head. “I didn’t, it’s just that I already finished it during free time in Calculus today."

“How do-how do you have- okay, you’re smart, I get that-wait, did you say calculus?” Xiaojun asked.

Kun looked surprised. “Yeah, I’m in calculus, why are you asking?”

“I feel bad for you, your math textbook must be thicker than mine,” Xiaojun explained. 

“Our textbook is online.”

“Of course it is.”

***

“So  _ I  _ was thinking if you wanted to head over to get milkshakes,” Donghyuck told Mark later after the 127 meeting. “I’m craving something sweet right now.”

They had just left the 127 meeting, where Taeyong and Jaehyun stayed behind, probably to talk or whatever. From what Mark has guess, it looks like this Jaehyun has a crush on Taeyong. 

Whatever Jaehyun was doing, it was working. Lucas said that he went to the ice cream shop Saturday to buy himself a sundae and saw Jaehyun and Taeyong flirting with each other. The feelings were probably mutual. 

He can only hope his feelings for Donghyuck are mutual as well. Mark has been dropping  _ so  _ many hints from what he can remember, but either Donghyuck thinks it’s just Mark being a friend or he doesn’t care. Maybe the former, Donghyuck would call him out of it if he knew. 

Mark has been trying to get over Haechan the past few months but he just can’t. It’s so hard when your in love with your best friend. Maybe someone will come along the way and Mark can develop feelings for them instead of Donghyuck, but he doesn’t even know if that was possible, especially not after the club incident last year. 

Mark had gotten a letter in his locker from a secret admirer, but him liking Haechan and no one else, he didn’t bother to read it. Donghyuck kept pressuring him to read it, and at one point Mark snapped and insulted Haechan in every way possible. He could never forget the way his best friend burst into tears and ran out of his house, resulting in them not speaking for a week. Mark had skipped a few days of school to stay locked up in his room, and when Johnny offered him to go to a club with him on Friday evening, Mark had reluctantly agreed. 

He doesn’t know how it happened. One moment he was taking a sip of what he  _ thought  _ was water (must have been alcohol since it burned his throat and made him choke.) The next moment, he was drunk and dancing to some American song he always heard back in Canada. He remembers seeing someone and doesn’t know what attracted him in the first place; maybe he had the same hair as Haechan. Same height. Same tanned skin. He doesn’t remember. He has  _ no  _ idea of the person that he gave his virginity that night, only recollected that he topped someone in some dirty room of the club and fell asleep immediately afterwards. 

That’s when Donghyuck then heard of him. Mark had called him crying of what just happened, how he was sorry to Donghyuck and knew Haechan would never forgive him ever again for saying those mean stuff earlier but just wanted to let him know that he missed him and that he has had the crappiest week of his life without his best friend by his side. 

They eventually made up and went back to being the best friends they always were; Donghyuck picked him up from the club and took him to his room, where Mark sat bawling about how he wanted to do it with someone he loved at a special occasion, while Haechan pat his back and ordered pizza for Mark to munch on, eventually staying the night. However, Mark now refuses to touch any type of alcohol, and they don’t talk about that incident in the club. Mark was furious at Johnny too and didn’t speak at him for a while until the other apologized. It wasn’t a memory that Mark liked to bring up.

Donghyuck was such a good friend to him that it would be so hard to get over him. 

“-and the cookie dough flavor is really good but I don’t get enough of the cookie- Mark, hello?” 

Mark woke up from his daydream and nodded along to Haechan. “Yeah, that you’re craving something sweet?”

Haechan sighed. “What’s wrong?”

He knew Donghyuck was going to pick up on his mood. “Nothing, just thinking.”

Haechan nodded. “Maybe the milkshake will cheer you up. Hey, look there’s Jaemin!” He waved towards their friend, who was also at his locker getting some stuff. He must have stayed after to work with a tutor. 

Jaemin looked over them, startled. “Hey, Haechan, Mark,” he shouted, quickly shutting his locker shut before running to where the other two were. “What are you guys doing here?”

“Oh, we had the 127 meeting today,” Haechan explained. “Mark was about to drive us home, do you want to join?”

Jaemin shifted his weight from leg to leg. “My mom is already coming, so-”

“Oh, that’s okay!” Donghyuck said. “Tomorrow we’re bringing some pancakes to the Dream meeting, hope to see you there!” 

Jaemin nodded frantically before making his way outside. “Okay, hyung, thank you!” 

When Jaemin left, that’s when Mark said to Donghyuck, “maybe we should offer him rides back home instead of making his poor mother walk a long distance.”

“I think she has nothing to do,” Donghyuck explained. “Probably has no job. It would be helpful to find her one.”

“Well, you know my committee is working on it,” Mark said. “I’m we’ll think of something. We just have to make sure not to trigger anything.”

Haechan nodded in agreement. “Hopefully. Hey, he likes those pocky that Chen Le gives him sometimes, can we head to the store after the milkshakes? As I was  _ saying _ , in order to bridge this weird divide you have with Lucas, try the mint cookie dough, surely you’ll find it delicious.”

  
  
  


***

The office was going crazy on Monday. 

Soonyoung showed them the results that Jihoon had found that weekend, causing the whole section working extra in order to solve the problem. They planned on asking other agencies for help and were going to send people to the giant telescopes in Hawaii and in Chile. Once they figure out what that thing is, they can have a big celebration on confirming the discovery. 

Jihoon was working at his desk like normally, sorting out some paperwork regarding calculations. Not one of the most fun jobs, but still a job at NASA, no less. It was cool to take part of a discovery. 

One of the bosses came over to where Jihoon was working. 

“Wow, Jihoon, looks like your putting a lot of effort into this,” he said in Korean; Jihoon, Sungsoo, and Soonyoung were the only Koreans who worked here. Sungsoo picked up one of the papers that Jihoon had sorted and said, “This wouldn’t have been possible without your keen eye.”

Jihoon put down the papers he had in his hand and looked at him. “Thank you, I guess.”

“Well, I have a  _ huge  _ favor to ask you,” he said. “Can you work overtime today? We want to focus on this discovery but don’t want to fall behind in the other projects.”

Normally, Jihoon would say yes; he always had time to do work, either here or at home. However… “Sorry, sir, not today.”

“Why not?” his boss questioned him. “I thought you were a diligent worker, Jihoon, considering how much time you’re putting in.”

“Yeah, but I have something scheduled today,” Jihoon said, picking up the stack again. “Maybe tomorrow, but not today.”

“I’m-” his boss was interrupted when Soonyoung came by.

“Hey, Jihoon, do you remember the meeting we have today later?” he asked. Soonyoung must have realized what Jihoon’s boss, Sungsoo, was trying to do. “Oh, hey, Sungsoo, what were you telling him? Sorry for have interrupted you.”

Soonyoung wished that Jihoon would work in his section instead of Sungsoo, not to have power of his friend but to make sure no one treated him like shit, a quite often occurrence. However, they were placed in different departments when they were hired, and Soonyoung just happened to get a promotion to the boss in his section. 

“Oh, I didn’t know you had a meeting with him,” Sungsoo said. “I understand, I’ll ask another worker.” Sungsoo said a quick goodbye to the two of them and left Jihoon’s desk, going to bother someone else. 

“He was forcing you to do overtime again, huh?” Soonyoung asked his friend, who threw the stack of papers on his desk and crossed his arms.

“I don’t have to notify him of all my therapist appointments,” Jihoon said. “It’s already hard to take medicine without people here being nosy bitches.”

“Yeah, the people here can be hard to work with,” Soonyoung agreed. “However, we’re working in NASA, remember? We just have to get through all the hard work.”

Jihoon just shrugged. “Whatever. Easy for you to say.”

Soonyoung wanted to argue with him but knew it wouldn’t be good for Jihoon; he was still struggling to accept some stuff. “I’ll do my best to make it easy, and if they don’t give you the credit I  _ will  _ take it to the supreme court.”

Jihoon rolled his eyes. “You can’t even find your way to Walmart.”

“Well, oops, I can’t buy you those bagel bites you wanted,” Soonyoung said. “I don’t know how to go to Walmart."

“Hoshi,” Jihoon said, using the childhood nickname, “you use GPS all the time.”

“It’s called google maps, cause apple maps sucks ass,” Soonyoung said. “We’ll get them after your therapist appointment, okay? There’s a horror movie that came out that we can rent as well.”

Jihoon sighed. “Fine, I’ll go to therapy and get the bagel bites and watch a stupid horror movie. I know your friends already asked you to go out with them later and you said no.”

Soonyoung frowned. “We promised that I’ll go with you to all your therapy visits.”

“Yeah, and they hate me,” Jihoon said. “They’re going to be more than pissed if they see you leaving with me-”

“Jihoon, no one hates you,” Soonyoung said. “Plus I can always hang out with them another day, it’s fine.”

Jihoon pouted. “I want the cheese bagel bites,” he said, crossing his arms. 

“We’ll get the cheese bagel bites.”

“And pepsi.”

“Ew, no, dumbass, coca cola all the way.”   
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> im suddenly in the mood to hear paradise while listening to heartbreaker by twice idk y but stan my man woozi please he's all i have
> 
> also twice merry and happy is rated explicited on spotify


	4. Does No One Have Eyes?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this is the last update until mid January since I'm trying to update my other stories real quick before i go missing for winter break, sorry! write a niel and cap fanfic from teentop if your bored, or find out where i can buy the exo showtime dvd

“He still refuses to attend group sessions,” the therapist told Soonyoung, “but he’s improved on how to distract himself. He mentioned… trying to learn French?” 

Soonyoung nodded. “Yeah, he found a website where they teach it, Mango languages, and he also likes to spend his time working on this connect-the-dots book.”

“I also recommend he takes up a sport,” the therapist said. “It seems like he has a lot of built-up anger and he needs to find a healthy way to release it.”

Soonyoung looked over to where Jihoon was sitting in the living, staring at the ground while he swung his legs back and forth. He always got like this after therapy.

“I’ll see what we can do,” Soonyoung said. 

Soonyoung said goodbye to the therapist and called over for Jihoon to leave. They still had to get some bagel bites, after all. 

The two of them were going to have to work overtime the next few days, Soonyoung had noticed, based on what was going on in the office. This was going to be their last normal day where they could lounge around together, doing useless shit like they always did. 

Soonyoung spent so much time at Jihoon’s house and the other vice versa that it made sense for them to just live together at this point. However, Jihoon had asked him long ago and Soonyoung had fucked up, and-

They never really talked about the incident about a year ago, right when Soonyoung was being a massive bitch to Jihoon. But the only thing that mattered was that Jihoon was here now, safe and cared for. 

Soonyoung didn’t say anything until they got in the car, waiting for JIhoon to put on his seatbelt before he started the car. “So, how did today go?”

Jihoon shrugged. “Same as always.”

“Well, at least it didn’t get worse,” Soonyoung said. “What’s the one positive thing that came out?”

“Um… he let me play Mariana and the Diamonds the entire time,” Jihoon admitted. 

“Oh no,” Soonyoung said, laughing at his own joke while Jihoon threw punches at him. Jihoon wasn’t really strong, though. “What, you like that song!”

“Stop making fun of me.” Jihoon crossed his arms and pouted, refusing to look at Soonyoung. “I don’t make fun of TVXQ.”

“I’m not making fun of you, I promise,” Soonyoung said. “Hey, I was thinking of a sport we can do together.” 

Jihoon turned to look at him. “A sport?”

“Kickboxing,” Soonyoung answered. “You can pretend you’re kicking me. You know I need the exercise anyways.”

Jihoon laughed. “Only you would allow violence to be inflicted on you.”

Soonyoung would have said  _ anything to make you happy  _ when his phone started ringing, interrupting the two of them. 

Soonyoung would have let it go to voicemail, but when he took it out of his pocket and say the caller ID, it said Connor, Soonyoung and Sungsoo’s higher up. Why he was calling now at around 7, Soonyoung didn’t know. 

He showed the screen to Jihoon. “Why would he be calling so late?”

Jihoon looked at the screen and squinted. “Connor? Am I reading this right?”

Soonyoung nodded before sliding the button over to answer it. “Hello, Connor, it’s me, Soonyoung.”

Jihoon could only hear snippets of the conversation, hearing “really?” “tomorrow?” “for a week?” and he was trying his best to decipher the meaning behind those words. 

When Soonyoung said goodbye and hung up the phone, Jihoon asked him what the conversation was about. 

“We have an emergency meeting tomorrow,” Soonyoung explained. “Me, Sungsoo, and the other department leaders. As for the rest, I can’t tell you right now, but it’ll be revealed tomorrow, trust me.”

***

“PANCAKES FOR EVERYONE!” Haechan screamed when he walked into the Dream meeting room Tuesday afternoon, lifting said box with the delicacy above his head. 

No matter how many times Mark tried to explain to him that it was a breakfast food in America (and Canada, sometimes - Mark was informed of a lot of American customs, no thanks to Johnny), Donghyuck wouldn’t let him have it. Thus, during their movie nights when Mark was having normal desserts like ice cream or that extra slice of cake, Donghyuck would shove a pancake in his mouth. When Mark showed him syrup, Haechan didn’t even drizzle it; he rolled up the pancake like a taco and used the syrup as dipping sauce. 

Mark loved it, though, watching Haechan eat pancake after pancake. It was one of the cutest things he has ever seen, right up with Haechan spelling his name and Haechan sleeping. 

He  _ promised  _ it wasn’t that creepy. 

Mark set down and opened his back pack to take out the plastic plates and forks, along with three types of syrup for the others to pick. “Whatever you guys do, don’t question him. This is what he does for a living.”

“Dang, so just throw away our karaoke nights like that, huh?” Donghyuck said, placing the box on the teacher’s desk in front of the room. “Mark, you don’t get a pancake.”

“Having pancakes after noon is an atrocity, so no thanks,” Mark commented, getting ignored by the younger ones who were lining up to get pancakes.

“Mark and I thought we could use today as a study group day,” Haechan said. “I know  _ I  _ have a lot of work, so if you guys need help, you can ask us, okay?”

“Just don’t ask Haechan for help in English,” Mark added. 

Donghyuck, who had just gotten a plate and was about to get his chocolate chip pancakes, turned around 180 degrees and squinted at Mark. “Excuseeeeeee moi?” He said in English, or, well-

“Haechan, that was French,” Mark said. “Further proving my point.”

“Um, what syrup is this?” Jaemin asked, pointing to a thick brown sauce. 

“Oh, that’s mexican!” Haechan skipped to where Jaemin was and held up the bottle. “This says  _ cajeta _ , it means caramel, but not, like, the one on popcorn or ice cream, it’s much thicker,” Haechan explained. “I love it on chocolate chip pancakes.” 

“Uh, you’re one of  _ those _ ,” Jisung said. “Anyone liking anything of chocolate.  _ Blueberry  _ is supreme-”

Chen Le, who was munching on a chocolate chip pancake, stopped chewing and swallowed before telling Jisung, “you hate chocolate chip pancakes?”

“Yeah I do,” Jisung said. “Don’t worry, if I get some, I’ll give them to you-”

“Wait, why is this bowl so small?” Renjun said, picking up the tiny dipping bowl next to the syrups. “What is it for?”

“Oh, that’s for me,” Donghyuck said. “I pour my syrups in there-”

“Reason #5 why you are a maniac,” Mark said. 

Donghyuck merely stuck his tongue at him. “You’re just jealous.”

“You’re just mad because you’re the only Korean in the world who likes learning French and listening to Marina and the Diamonds.”

“So I’m assuming that’s a no to karaoke night tonight?” Haechan said, crossing his arms and pouting. “There went my Tuesday night.”

“Wait, karaoke tonight?” Mark said. “I don’t remember that being in our plans.”

“It wasn’t, I’m just messing with you, haha, unless?” Hachan said, fluttering his eyelids at the other. 

“Now this is what you call flirting,” Renjun whispered to Jeno, who had taken the dipping bowl and was dipping his strawberry pancake in the cajeta. “There’s no way Mark will pass up an opportunity to see Haechan dance.”

“You’re so smart, Renjun,” Jeno said, while the three of them (Jaemin included) were watching Mark say a stumbling yes. “You’re, like, the love expert.”

“Nah, I just watch too much kdramas. Watching these two is  _ so  _ much better than doing any actual studying.”

***   
  


“So Ten and I last night had a long discussion about you,” Johnny told Jaehyun later.

“So you and your boyfriend talk about me after sex? I’m flattered,” Jaehyun said. 

“Hey, you know we’re both virgins!” Johnny screeched. “We were watching Harry Potter and started guessing which houses we would be.”

“Why do people always go to that topic when talking about Harry Potter?” Jaehyun asked. 

“I don’t know, but anyways, we were sensing you and Taeyong getting closer, hmmm?” Johnny starting winking at Jaehyun. “Wonder when you’ll officially ask him out.”

Jaehyun sighed. “I’ve been talking to him for a week, Johnny, give me time,” Jaehyun pleaded. “Why are you so desperate that we get together so soon?”

“Because Ten wants to go on a double date, why else?” Johnny said.

Jaehyun gave him a look. “Really? That’s why?”

“No, I just want to see you happy,” Johnny said. “You just have to show him your interest through the little things. Offer to take him home. Give him a little gift. If he has a problem, let him rant to you. He’ll appreciate it, and even if he doesn’t want to date you, he will really be glad to have you as a friend. 

“Jaehyun nodded at his friends words. “You know what? You’re right for once.”

“Of course I-wait, what?”   
  
***

Haechan was at his house,  _ again,  _ like always, setting up the microphone set while Mark searched for the television remote .

“I love love LOVE karaoke~” Haechan sang out loud. “I’ve been practicing the English songs in the shower!”

Mark shook his head. Haechan only knew 5 English songs that he could sort-of sing along to, but of course it was karaoke - they did this for fun. Donghyuck, however, had the most beautiful singing voice Mark has ever heard, even better than Ukiss. Which meant something for Mark. 

“Haechan, are you planning on taking an English class in college?” Mark asked. “Just curious.” 

Donghyuck tapped his chin as if to indicate that he was thinking. “Maybe. I know I suck at it, but…” he shrugged. “I want to at least understand it.”

“You don’t suck at it!” Mark shouted. “You’re just learning, of course it’s common to make mistakes.” 

Donghyuck shook his head. “You guys wouldn’t make fun of me if I didn’t suck at it.”

“I-well, it’s a joke, Haechan,” Mark tried to explain. “It doesn’t mean anything.”

Haechan sigh. “Don’t worry about it- hey, so, I have a question about the Ukiss videos.”

Mark could tell Haechan didn’t want to talk about the issue, so he let it slide for now. It wasn’t like his friend to abruptly change a topic. “Go ahead.”

Haechan went to sit back at the couch with Mark, who was messing around with the remote. “Why do they always list each MV as full MV or color MV? If it’s like 3 or 4 minutes we know it’s the full MV and we can see if it has color or not.”

“Well, that’s just Ukiss,” Mark explained to him. “I think they have only one of the original members left.”

“I hate groups who go through different members.” Haechan shook his head. “So confusing.”

“Excuse me?” Mark got up from the couch, ready to throw hands at his best friend, the reason for his existence, the true definition of love. “I know all 10 people who participated in Ukiss.”

“That’s too much,” Donghyuck added. “It would be cool to be in a band though.”

“Yeah, imagine if we were in one, named…. I don’t know, after school, NCT?” Mark said. “Maybe we never lose members, we just add.”

“I would  _ love  _ to be in a band.” Haechan grabbed the microphone from the set and got on the couch, standing up on it. “Come on, Mark, you have to get in the mood.”

Mark waved him away. “I’m fine, don’t worry. So, I’m assuming we’re starting with-”

“MARINA AND THE DIAMONDS!” Donghyuck pumped his fist in the air, changing his balance on his feet over and over. “Let’s get this bread!” He said in English.

“Out of all the English slang you could have memorized,” Mark said, but used the remote to put the song “Oh No!” on the television. 

“YESSSS!” Haechan shouted during the intro until the lines finally came on screen, which he didn’t even need. “Don’t do love, don’t do friends, I’m only after success.”

Mark would be heartbroken if Haechan actually meant that, but Donghyuck didn’t know the translation, even though Mark had explained it to him many times. Maybe he could write it out for his friend, he thought, yeah, Haechan would gladly appreciate it. 

“Don’t want cash! Don’t want car! Want it fast! Want it hard!” Haechan always ended each sentence with an exclamation, one of the cutest things Mark has ever seen. 

His favorite part, though, was the chorus. Haechan always did a dramatic jump of the couch to the ground and would start dancing to the beat, to which Mark always,  _ always  _ recorded it. 

Haechan never understood why Mark wouldn’t dance along with him, but it’s because Mark loved to see his friend dance, the way Haechan’s eyes would gleam, the way his body moved-

Okay, he need to stay out of that territory. 

“I KNOW EXACTLY WHAT I WANT AND WHO I WANT TO BE! I KNOW EXACTLY WHY I WALK AND TALK LIKE A MACHINE-Mark! You have to say the OH NO part!” Haechan turned to look at Mark, who already had his phone out. “Are you going to blackmail me again?”

“No I’m not-” he wanted to argue, but then the two of them shouted, “Oh! Oh No! Oh No! Oh no oh~”

Mark let Haechan do the rest of the song, watching him do his quirky dances over and over-Donghyuck was that body roll really necessary?

When the song finished, Donghyuck threw the microphone onto the couch next to Mark. “It’s your turn now!”

“Nah, I’m fine,” Mark said. When he saw Haechan give him a squint, though, he got up. “Fine, it’s not in English though.”

“Mark, I speak Korean, I can handle it,” Haechan rolled his eyes at his dumb best friend. “I know my English was too good for me to not be a fluent speaker. 

“Your English was actually really good, though,” Mark said, typing in Glam’s “I Like That” on the TV. “You have been practicing.”

“Duh, I never lie,” Haechan said. He fluttered his eyelashes at Haechan. “I’m the best and you know it.”

When the song started playing on the screen, Mark started to sing along to it in Korean. 

“When I’m sitting alone at a BBQ restaurant, and ordering a 2 person meal and cooking the meat by myself-”

“This song is making me hungry,” Haechan admitted. 

“Come dance with me, you punk!” Mark grabbed Haechan’s wrist out of habit and pulled him closer to him, until their noses bumped into each other. 

They stared at each other with wide eyes, confused on what happened, the song slowly playing in the background. Mark was going to say something when the song said-

“Fell in love and break up, sometimes crying, smiling or just living life-”

“This song is sad,” Haechan said, pulling away from Mark. “Put a happier one, XXO, I like that one.”

Mark slowly got out of shock, reaching for the remote to put Party, the lyrics slowly filling the room. 

“Nanananananana-”

“Thank you,” Haechan said, before grabbing Mark’s hands and moving them. “I love dancing.”

_ I love you _ . “Me too.”

***

Next day in Korean history, Kun told him about WayV’s meeting today. 

“I’m thinking to hold something Friday,” Kun said. “Hold a Chinese movie night. Have you seen Sixteen?”

Xiaojun shook his head. “Not that I recall.”

“Well, I saw it, and I think you would like it,” Kun said. He grabbed his backpack and unzipped it, pulling out a DVD with two guys and a girl on the front. “It had Hangeng and Kris Wu, it’s really good, you should watch.” He handed the DVD to Xiaojun. 

“Oh, I can’t take this,” Xiaojun said.

Kun shrugged. “You can borrow it and return it anytime, if you want. Please, I have to talk to someone about it but I don’t want to spoil it.”

Xiaojun gave him a short nod, slowly taking the dvd from Kun. “I’ll watch it tonight. Wait, what movie do you have planned for Friday?”

Kun took out another DVD from his backpack. “The Love O2O movie. I’ve only seen the drama, never the movie, so I thought we can all watch it together.”

“I love the drama!” Xiaojun exclaimed. “Remember when Bei Wei Wei’s friend ruined that camera? Highlight of my day.”

“The couple was really cute,” Kun agreed. “Do you think people will be down to watch it?”

Xiaojun nodded. “Absolutely.”   
  


***

Early Wednesday morning, Soonyoung and the other departmental leaders had a meeting. 

Long story short, they were going to send Soonyoung and two of his workers to Korea to work at an agency there for investigation, which helped since Soonyoung spoke Korean and they wouldn’t need to hire a translator.

The problem was, Soonyoung didn’t want to leave Jihoon in America. He needed to keep an eye out for his friend, what if Jihoon-

He  _ had  _ to figure out a way for Jihoon to come with him. 

When the meeting finished and everyone was leaving, Soonyoung went up to Connor and told him his dilemma. 

“Sir, I know you said I can pick two people from my department, but is there anyway I can bring Jihoon with me instead?”

Connor looked at him all weird. “Jihoon’s done a lot of work and we need him here-”

“Like you guys are going to give him any credit,” Soonyoung argued. He knew he had no right to argue with a higher up but he didn’t give a damn anymore. “I have evidence on how he solved the meteor problem a few weeks back and you guys didn’t list him. And there’s a lot more where that came from.” He took out a USB from his pocket and waved it. “It’s all in here. And yes, I have copies, you guys will never be able to erase it.”

Connor sigh. “Send the two works to work in Sungsoo’s department for now. As for Jihoon and you, we’re sending you guys to South Korea tonight at 9:00 pm, Michael will give you guys information about your flight, and you know the rest.” Connor walked away, mumbling to himself, probably talking shit about Soonyoung but-

Who cares? Soonyoung and Jihoon were going to South Korea!

Soonyoung had been there two times, both times when his adopted parents took him there since, even though he is from Korean descent, having been born and become an orphan in the US, his parents wanted him to at least have that memory. Jihoon has never been; he never got adopted and he has a ton of loans to pay off from his university schooling, and no matter how much Soonyoung offered to help him out, Jihoon refused. 

Now he just had to tell his friend the news. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know you guys might be wondering why I keep including characters with mental illness, but I'm going through some problems right now and I guess it's a way to express it? I don't know
> 
> stream healing by seventeen and love talk (Yangyang i still need to have a word with you)


	5. Tension

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so I wanted to give a few notes about Jihoon’s character. 
> 
> Basically, Jihoon is, in essence, me. I don’t know if you guys like his character or not, thinking it’s too much, thinking it’s not accurately portrayed, but it’s me nonetheless. Obviously some things are changed, and it’s seventeen characters, yeah, but Jihoon is basically how I am. 
> 
> His future with soonyoung is one that I want as well. I want to have a true friend who’s by my side, who cares about what I’m feeling, who asks how my day went. I had an online friend recently but I think we’re not friends anymore; she got too tired of me being depressed I guess? I always text first but if I don’t, I don’t receive a reply, she gets mad at me and I don’t know what I’m doing wrong, I don’t know. I don’t know what I’m doing wrong.
> 
> I hope you guys are patient with jihoon’s character. I know you came her for nct, but he’s important in the story too. Maybe sometimes you don’t like what other characters do but I relate a lot to them too. How taeyong acts would probably be me in those situations. How mark gets tense over his crush. How Xiaojun portrays his thinking. 
> 
> I’m sorry if this story isn’t up to you guys expectations, but I’m trying. I, like Jihoon in this story, have mental illness. I’ve dealt with so much shit and I’m so fucking lonely and I don’t know what to do with my life and I’m just so tired with everything. And I don’t know

They were packing their bags after work.

Jihoon was buzzing from excitement, rambling off places they could visit while they had free time in South Korea. He had almost cried when Soonyoung told him the news earlier, how NASA was sending them over to help aid in the research, considering how they were the main two that had discovered the unidentifiable object.

“We can finally talk to other Koreans!” Jihoon said, grabbing shirts off his hangers and throwing them on his bed. “Finally put my native language to use.”

Soonyoung had talked to multiple Koreans before, and had gotten to known other Asians as well, but it was nice for Jihoon to finally have the opportunity as well. 

Jihoon never had much opportunities, and Soonyoung, well-

He didn’t like to talk about it. 

***

_ 8 years ago _

Soonyoung was late.

Jihoon hasn’t gotten time to spend with the latter for over a month. He would ask Soonyoung to go to the park, or if Jihoon could come over, but Soonyoung always had plans. 

At least Soonyoung was able to meet him today. That was good, right? 

He was sitting at the bench at the park. It was 6:10, already past ten minutes of their meeting time. Soonyoung wasn’t really the type of person to be late. Maybe something happened. Jihoon had to be patient. 

They were about to graduate together, and Jihoon was going to ask him if they could spent the morning of the ceremony together. It would really mean a lot for Jihoon, and he could only hope Soonyoung would be willing to do it with him. 

He left at ten, when the park manager told him they were closing. 

——

_ Is everything okay?  _

Soonyoung got a text from Jihoon at around 10:15 pm, right when he got out of the shower. 

He had spent the whole day with his soccer friends after school but left his phone at home. He got a scolding from his mother, of course, but when he finally opened it and found messages from everyone, he deleted them all. 

The text from Jihoon, though, was unexpected. What was that about? 

He should have asked him, but not right now. He’ll respond later, he was going to get some snacks from the kitchen first. Yeah, definitely later. 

——

“Did something happen yesterday?” Jihoon asked him before school started. 

Soonyoung was alone, grabbing his textbooks from his locker. He came earlier than usual to turn in an assignment, but his friends would come later. 

“What do you mean?” Soonyoung asked him, thinking of how he needed to head over to Dylan and Andy’s house later to work for their project. 

“Well, yesterday you didn’t answer my messages,” Jihoon explained, “since you didn’t come to our meeting. Is everything okay?” 

_ Shit,  _ he forgot they were meeting. “Sorry, Jihoon, I forgot, we can reschedule,” he told him. “I left my phone at home so I didn’t see your messages.”

“That’s okay, I’m glad you’re okay-“ Jihoon started telling him before-

Arata and Luis came behind him. “Hey, man, yesterday was LIT,” Luis said, while Arata gave him a playful punch. 

“Haha, yeah!” Soonyoung said, laughing with them. “I’m so excited for the game this Friday.” He closed his locker and walked away with them, leaving Jihoon alone. 

Not that he remembered him there.

——

During lunch, Jihoon didn’t have enough money for his meal, so he had to put it all back. He was going to have to wait for meal time at the orphanage at seven, then. 

He decided to spend his time at the library, taking advantage of the computers. Maybe he could go to Facebook.

He logged on and scrolled through his feed, where he saw some of Soonyoung’s post. He was the only one he had as a friend on Facebook, so he mainly played those games, like FarmVille. Soonyoung didn’t use Facebook that often, only posting when his mom wanted him too, but it was nice to see Soonyoung happy in those posts.

He saw a picture of Soonyoung with his friends at a burger place yesterday, all of them making faces at the camera. He gave a it a like, just like always.

He saw more photos like that, spamming them with likes. Soonyoung never commented back, so he stopped leaving those a while ago. However, one post caught his attention.

It was posted on the last day of April, and it was a letter.  _ Gonna say yes to Harvard tomorrow,  _ read his post, along with emojis of balloons and party streamers. 

_ Harvard??  _ Soonyoung got into  _ Harvard?  _ That was great! That was so great for his friend!!! 

There was also pictures of all the scholarships he had received, thus essentially making it a full ride. Jihoon couldn’t believe it! His friend was going to have a blast at college.

Jihoon hasn’t gotten a single scholarship that he applied for and got the costliest loans; he was going to one of the public colleges nearby. The good thing was that they were letting him live in a dorm, since the orphanage was going to kick him out soon. 

Jihoon had to celebrate with his friend. 

——

“Can I ask you something?” Jihoon asked him while on the phone.

Jihoon gave him a call earlier to congratulate his acceptance to Harvard, which was  _ kind  _ of a big deal to Soonyoung but not really. Whatever made Jihoon happy.

“Yeah, sure,” Soonyoung said, setting his iPhone to speaker so that he can finish his calc homework. 

“So you know how graduation is beginning of June?” Jihoon asked. “Well, I wanted to see if you wanted to spend the morning together getting ready.”

“Oh, sorry, I can’t,” Soonyoung said. “Me and the boys already have plans that day. We’re going to be at Michael’s house all day and then our parents are meeting us at the ceremony.”

Soonyoung was looking forward to graduation, surely gonna be one of the best days of his life. He was rank four, no speech for him, but his friends were all in the top 25 as well, so they would get to sit near him as well. His parents were going to take him out to dinner, and then there was the after party. He couldn’t wait. 

“Oh, okay,” Jihoon said. “Maybe-“

“Soonyoung, Amazon just delivered a package for you!” His mother, Annabel, knocked on his door and opened it a slit so that he could hear her better. “I have it hear for you-“

“Gotta go, Jihoon.” Soonyoung turned off the speaker and pressed the red button, ending the call. “What’s the package, mom, does it say what it is? I bought a bunch of random stuff.”

——

***

_ Present  _

Soonyoung was driving to the airport when he saw Jihoon, who was sitting in the passenger seat watching a movie on his phone, start to silently cry.

Soonyoung looked at the right before turning, but out of the corner of his eye, he saw tears starting to stream down Jihoon’s face.

“Wong, woah, woah, hey, what’s wrong?” Soonyoung drove to the side pulled into what appeared to be a gas station. “Jihoon, you okay?”

Jihoon nodded, already hiccuping when a tear fell on his phone. “I’m fine, you’re just exaggerating.”

Soonyoung looked at Jihoon’s phone.  _ Ah.  _ That’s why he was crying. It was High School Musical, where Troy was on the podium at graduation. 

Jihoon didn’t like to talk about graduation, either high school or college. Made sense. That’s why he got so emotional whenever those types of scenes came up, but crying wasn’t really a part of it. He just became quiet and you couldn’t talk to him for the rest of the day. 

He placed Jihoon’s phone on the cupholder and put his hand on Jihoon’s shoulder. “Hey. I’m here, okay? It’s okay, Jihoon, you can cry.”

Jihoon started sobbing now, covering his face with his hands to not look at Soonyoung. Soonyoung just patted his back and rubbed circles while Jihoon sobbed, the car parked at a gas station. 

When he quieted down, Soonyoung said, “Do you want some McDonald’s? I’ll get you your favorite, the Oreo McFlurry, heck, let’s just get a whole shit ton of McChickens, too, okay? This flight is going to be a long one.”

Jihoon slowly took his hands off his face. “McDonald’s?”

“Yeah, some fast food.” Soonyoung shifted the gear shift from park to drive and got them out of the gas station. “In Korea, we are eating all the authentic food we can get.”

  
  


***

“So I vote that we eliminate Lucas,” Yangyang concluded.

Kun frowned. “That has- Yangyang, we were picking a movie to watch Friday.”

Ten was in the WayV meeting Wednesday, but seeing how they were arguing, he pulled out his phone to text Johnny.

_ How r u doing baby <3 ,  _ the message read. Johnny was heading back home while Ten was stuck in this classroom. 

_ we’re going to strangle someone :D  _ Ten replied to him, before putting his phone away.

“So I guess Love O2O wins,” Kun announced. “We will watch it Friday.”

Si Cheng’s eyes widen. “Wait, Friday? You said,  _ Friday?” _

“Yeah, this week,” Kun said. “If you guys can make it.”

“Can it be at night, though?” Yangyang said. “It’ll be cooler.”

“Maybe 6?” 

“ _ Six?”  _ Si Cheng asked, his voice a little higher than normal. 

Hendery turned to look at him. “Si Cheng,  _ what  _ is going on with you today?”

“Maybe it’s because of that Yuta,” Yangyang said. “What a role model.”

Oh, Yuta, Ten knew who that was. Yuta was one of Johnny’s friends, along with Jaehyun. Mark Lee also used to be part of the group, but after some incident that happened last year, he doesn’t really hang out with them outside of school anymore. 

Ten didn’t know much of the situation; he wasn’t dating Johnny yet by then, and it would be weird to ask him now. Mark was alright, but Ten felt threatened by that Haechan kid. He had no idea how to explain. 

“Winwin, you’re  _ still  _ with that Yuta?” Kun said. “I thought you weren’t official yet.”

“Official of what-Wait what?” Si Cheng said. “Why are we talking about me and Yuta?”

“Hey, next meeting we should make a plan to get those two together,” Ten chipped into the conversation. He wanted to see how Si Cheng would react.

He got the response he wanted. Si Cheng’s face started turning red, and he reached out to scratch his neck. “I don’t know what you're talking about.”

“We all know you wanna bang,” Yangyang said. “Just admit it-“

“Yo, maybe we should stop this conversation,” Lucas suggested. 

“What are you, a virgin?” Hendery said. 

“Um, guys,” Kun interrupted. “I think everyone in here is a virgin.” 

The whole room looked at each other in silence. 

One of them  _ must  _ not be a virgin, Ten thought. I mean, they are  _ all  _ high school students, surely one of them must have been horny enough. 

But no one denied it.

Even Ten was a virgin himself. Yeah, most people would immediately think he wasn’t; he was rumored to be a whore when he flirted with Johnny a few months ago. Why people always assumed that, he didn’t know. 

“I’m not, who told you that?” Yangyang said, causing everyone’s eyes to turn to him.

“YOU’RE NOT??” Kun screeched. “When did  _ this _ happen?”

“I’m sorry!” Yangyang yelled out, covering his face with his hands. “It was when I was still in Germany!”

“Yangyang, there’s nothing wrong with sleeping with other people,” Ten said. “You don’t have to-“

“I’m not a slut, I promise!” Yangyang continued to yell. “I just have bad taste in men!”

“What do you mean by that?” Lucas asked, confused. He had no idea how they went from movies to this. 

Oh, wait. It was Yangyang and Hendery’s fault, like always. 

“You had past lovers?” Hendery whispered quietly.

Yangyang nodded, peeking through his fingers to look at Hendery. “Yeah.”

“Yangyang, you’re not a slut-“ Ten tried to calm him down but the other wouldn’t budge.

“Yes I am!” Yangyang shouted before removing his hands from his face to zip his jacket up to his throat and tightening they strings, pulling up his hoodie, completely making his head covered. “Don’t look at me!”

“Yangyang, sleeping with one person doesn’t make you an automatic slut-“ Kun tried to reason with him. 

“It was four!”

“FOUR?!” Hendery screeched, jumping out of his seat. “HOW DO YOU MAKE THE SAME MISTAKE FOUR TIMES?!”

“Hendery, you’re not really helping,” Si Cheng said. 

“Yangyang, if it makes you feel better,” Xiaojun said for the first time that meeting. “I’m not a virgin either.” 

While everyone gawked at him, Yangyang untightened the strings from his hoodie. “You’re not?”

“Okay, I really didn’t expect that,” Ten said.

Kun turned to look at Xiaojun, his eyes filled with worry. It didn’t take a genius to know he liked the new guy. Ten was going to pry information out of him later. “Was it when you came here, or?” He asked slowly. 

Xiaojun shook his head. “I don’t like to talk about it.”

“Can we  _ please  _ stop talking about sex, you guys give me anxiety,” Lucas interrupted all of them. “I want to ask Jungwoo out and I don’t need to keep thinking about that.”

“You and Jungwoo?” Hendery asked. “I did not expect that.”

Yangyang unzipped his jacket and pulled down his hoodie. “So do we plan you getting together?”

“How about we don’t plan anything,” Kun said. “So. Movie. Friday. It’s confirmed.”

***

Si Cheng had a dilemma. 

So, usually he did not have anything on Fridays. However, the two units he was in now wanted to do something on Friday  _ simultaneously. _

Why this week out of all weeks??

The 127 club was doing something Friday since they were all panicking about colleges and transcripts and scholarships, so the meeting was for everyone to figure things out. Meanwhile, the WayV club wanted to hold a movie night, the movie Love O2O, which Si Cheng was really looking forward to.

Si Cheng was a junior, so he finally decided to go to the WayV meeting instead. He really wanted to watch that movie, and he wasn’t applying to colleges this year. Besides, he knew how loud 127 would get; they wouldn’t get any work done.

He did want to see Yuta though. 

Yeah, everyone was right. He had a big, fat crush on the latter and from what everyone was telling him, the feeling was mutual. However, they were  _ crazy  _ if they thought Si Cheng was going to make the first move. 

Thankfully, he was back on his place that Wednesday, so he grabbed his pillow and screamed at it. 

Scream about stupid exams, stupid WayV, stupid 127, stupid Yuta, not stupid Lucas and Kun who thankfully changed the topic during the meeting. 

Yep. Classic Chinese classmates. 

***

Jaehyun was at his house again. 

It was Wednesday, so his parents weren’t home again. Although Taeyong didn’t think his parents would mind. Surely they would love Jaehyun. 

Friday they were going to hold a special 137 meeting in case anyone wanted to join. Some of them, like Mark and Johnny, were Korean but raised in different countries, so they don't know much about the Korean college process. Some, like Yuta and Si Cheng, we’re foreigners entirely. Others, like Taeil, just claimed to be stupid. 

They were doing their mathematics homework, but Taeyong put music on the television so that they could hear something while they worked. He usually put soft music, but when he asked Jaehyun for suggestions, he found himself putting on-

Taemin’s Want.

“Um, well, okay?” Taeyong pressed the letter T on the control and paused, not wanting to press the a.

Ha. Wanting.

“What’s wrong, you don’t like it?” Jaehyun said. “I can pick a new one-“

“No, it’s fine, I’m just, well-“ Taeyong slammed his finger on the A and went to press the e and m. “I’m not used to hearing this type of music when I’m doing homework.”

“Oh, I  _ love  _ hearing energetic music while doing homework,” Jaehyun replies. “It makes me feel productive, you know, like getting upbeat and that kind of thing, right?”

“O-oh, I, well, hmmmmm.” He finished typing it in and clicked on the first video, the familiar beat starting to play. 

“Do you know the Dream club?” Jaehyun asked him. “They are staying Friday too to do a karaoke night. Maybe we can, I don’t know, pop in at the end and sing a little song?” 

Taeyong looked at him, puzzled. “A song?”

“Only if you want to, I mean, they’re meeting the same time as us Friday, 6-8.” Jaehyun grabbed his workbook and set it on his knee, already grabbing a pencil. “I think WayV is staying after that same time, who knows what they are doing, Si Cheng was mumbling about a movie or something…” Jaehyun trailed off. 

“Si Cheng?” Taeyong whispered to him. “I didn’t know you were friends with him, do you like him?”

“Si Cheng, pft, no,” Jaehyun said. “He’s just chill, he was like on of the only guys who talked to me when I moved here from America back in middle school-“

“America?” Taeyong reaches over to grab one of the oreos that he had arranged on a plate earlier. “You lived there?”

“For four years, that’s why I’m here, man.” Jaehyun started drumming his fingers on his thigh, focusing his attention on Taeyong’s hair. “No, I don’t like him romantically, I like- I-I mean we should finish this.” He looked down on his workbook and wrote down the number 24 on a question that asked the derivative. 

“Wait, you like  _ who?”  _ Taeyong quizzed him.

“Can you stop it with all the questions, please?” Jaehyun harshly said to him, already reading the next question.

“Oh.” Taeyong looked down on his notebook, where he had been reviewing his notes. “I’m sorry, I-I didn’t mean to pry into your life.”

“No, no Taeyong, that’s not- uhhhhh, this is so hard!!” Jaehyun raised up the workbook and smacked his head with it. “How do I do this?!?!”

“Oh, I can help you with the problem-“ Taeyong offered when Jaehyun interrupted him with a groan. 

“No, I’m not talking about calc, I’m talking about-I-I…” he trailed off with a sigh and turned his gaze towards the window. “Guess I botched it now.”

“Bot-“  _ botched what?  _ Taeyong wanted to ask, but he didn’t want Jaehyun to get mad at him for asking more questions, so he stopped himself. 

Jaehyun didn’t say anything for the next minute, maintaining his gaze on the window.

“Jaehyun?” Taeyong reached out to grab his hand but pulled it back last minute. “Are, are you okay?”

Jaehyun nodded. “Yeah, sure,  _ totally. _ Um…. Taeyong?”

Those same gorgeous puzzled eyes kept staring back at him. “Yeah?”

“Do you, um….” silence. “.......do you want to do something Friday?”

“Friday?” Taeyong tilted his head, pondering. “What for?”

“After the 127 meeting,” Jaehyun explained. “Maybe…. grab dinner? I don’t know, if you want?”

“Um, okay?” Taeyong laughed a little. “It’s-it’s not a big deal, you can ask me out anywhere.”

_ Ask him out, huh?  _ “No, Taeyong not like-like not friends.”

“Oh! I thought-I thought we were friends-sorry,” Taeyong shrugged him off. “Sorry, don’t, don't worry,” he whispered under his breath. 

“No, Taeyong, I didn’t mean that- uHHHHH!!!” Jaehyun whacked himself with his workbook again. “Can you, uh, give me a minute?” With that, he grabbed his phone and ran out the room, leaving a confused Taeyong behind. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it’s a cliffhanger I’ll try to update soon; we’ll see some *SPOILER* ~aliens~ next chapter


	6. D-1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As I've said in all my stories, due to the COVID19 situation I haven't had access to the internet or my devices, but thanks to someone I'll have access for a few days. Stay safe guys

It was easy to take form of the complex multicellular organism here on this terrestrial planet. 

Three of them were dropped in what the biome appeared to be a forest. There appeared to be a tower, to which they identified contained water substance. It would be easy to make the base here. That way, the organisms would have time to prepare their defenses because they can attack the living beings. 

They needed to understand the language, though, so they needed to bring a being back to their pod in the ship and absorb the information stored in their versions of a brain. That way, they could also understand the customs here on Earth so that they could assimilate. 

A total of six of them came to this planet and were responsible for their downfall. It was the test that they had been assigned, and they’ve been given their resources. 

Now it was time to put it to use. 

***   
  
Two janitors went outside to have a smoke during their break. Hopefully, they could stall out here for a long time. 

“So I caught two teens making out today behind the bleachers,” one of them said. “A Chinese and a Korean. Glad they didn’t do anything worse, I’m fucking tired of cleaning up jizz everywhere.”   
  
“As if these people didn’t have homes where they could fuck,” the other said. He took a long, drag of his cigarette before continuing. “Did find some pot in a student’s locker, gonna use it later.”   
  


“Better hide it from your wife, she’s already on your case about that girl you’ve been banging,” the first one said. 

The second dude, a short, chubby guy, walked to the corner and walked away, out of sight from his co-worker. “Give me a sec, I’m taking a piss.”   
  
The taller dude shrugged. "Whatever you want, buddy. I'll be right back." 

He headed back into the building to get a drink of water from the water fountain since his dumbass forgot to bring his water container to work today. At least it wasn't the passing period of t students there; he fucking hated seeing all the annoying ass kids everywhere, thinking they had life made. 

Of course,, he didn't like working after hours of the school either. Why did others get to rest? It's not like those kids fucking deserved it. 

After having his fill of the water, he went back outside to look for his co-worker who was nowhere in sight. 

"Hello? Man, where are you hiding?" He turned around the corner and was thrown against the wall, his skull crushing on impact, his body falling on his co-worker pool of blood.

***

Jaehyun fumbled with his phones as he tried to dial the one number that would help him out in this critical situation. 

The phone was ringing while Jaehyun lifted it up to his ear, his hands shaking and his heart racing. He started packing down the hallways of Taeyong's house as he waited for his friend to pick up.

Johnny's voice sounded very groggy; he must have been taking a nap. "Hello?" he said, yawning into the line. 

"I knew this was a bad idea!" Jaehyun shrieked into the loudspeaker, only getting a hmm from Johnny in return. "It's not gonna work, dumbass!"

"Hold on, what are you doing again?" Johnny asked him before Jaehyun screamed and ended the call. 

He tested against the wall of the hallway for a few moments, trying to catch his breath. This was not going to work. Taeyong was going to hate him and their whole friendship would be ruined, and that was the last thing Jaehyun wanted.

He counted to ten in his head before cursing the Thai and his stupid boyfriend. How Jaehyun was friends with Johnny was beyond his reasoning. 

Calming himself down, he tried to reason with himself. Even if Taeyong rejected him, it didn't seem likely that they would stop hanging out, right? They would still be good friends. 

Without thinking, he marched himself back into Taeyong's room, where the latter had been writing in his notebook before looking at Jaehyun. "Is everything okay?" Taeyong asked.

"No, nothing's okay," Jaehyun answered. "I'm in love with you."

Taeyong's eyes widen, his face starting to turn red. "uh.. come again?"

"I want to be more than friends," Jaehyun explained, wondering where he was getting this confidence from. Too late to back down now. "Can we…. Perhaps see Friday as a date?"

***

"Today is Thursday~" Donghyuck started singing in the hallways the next day, skipping his way as Mark followed closely behind him. "I'm so excited~"

Mark ignored him, instead trying to calm down his raging heartbeat. "What are you looking forward to?" He asked carefully.

"Well, YOU have the meeting with your committee, so I am going to spend that time doing my homework cause I'll miss you," Haechan replied, batting his eyelashes at Mark. "And Chen Le asked me if I could sleep over at his house tonight "

"Tonight?" Mark asked. "Today is Thursday."

"Well, you see my friend," Donghyuck reminded him. "Friday sleepovers are reserved for my best friend in the  _ entire  _ world."

Mark ignored his beating heart as its pace picked up. "You're coming to my place?"

"Hell yeah." Donghyuck stopped at his locker to get out his books. They were taking their time since Mark had actually woken up on time today and they had plenty of time to spare. "Two sleepovers in a row, yes. Oh, Jeno said he wanted to do something on Saturday, so maybe it'll be a third one."

"Oof, that's going to be a good one," Mark said. "Jeno has the biggest gaming collection I've ever seen."

"Look at you, mister gamer." Haechan slammed his locked shut. "Me and Chen Le are gonna go shopping for homecoming, anyways. He wants my opinion since he claims I have a better taste in clothes than Renjun."

Mark's eyes widen. "Homecoming? He's your date?"

"God no." Donghyuck took out his phone and unlocked it, opening the photos app. "He only has eyes on you-know-who. Although he denies it. You know how the younger ones are." 

"You're younger than me," Mark pointed out. 

"Details, details. Look, I was thinking of buying a dress like this," Haechan showed his phone to Mark. "It's pretty."

Mark has known about his friend liking to crossdress for years, although Donghyuck did it rarely. His parents didn't approve of it, and although they were never home, Donghyuck didn't like to risk it, doing it only on special occasions.

It's been a while since Donghyuck had done it, Mark thought. The last time they went to a dance was when Haechan graduated middle school, inviting Mark (who had finished freshman year) since he didn't want to be lonely. That had been over a year and a half ago.

Just the thought of Haechan wearing a dress again made Mark's cheeks get red.

"Do you plan on getting a date?" Mark asked him. Last time he checked, Donghyuck didn't have a crush on anyone, but feelings could always change.

Donghyuck shook his head. "Nah, we should all just go together as a group. I'd rather hang out with you than any date."

***

In Korean lit class, Xiaojun and Kun were passing notes.

The teacher was droning on and on about some author that Xiaojun had never heard about and would never hear about again. He didn't even know popular Chinese authors and he's spent his entire life there. He agreed that literature and its impact should be taught, but at least make the class interesting for crying out loud. 

He started doodling the Chinese character biáng all over his notebook. It was the most complex Chinese character known to man, having almost 60 strokes and can't even be typed into a computer. Xiaojun had memorized it in the past because he liked ordering the biáng biáng noodles.

While writing the character, glancing at the teacher every now and then so that she thought he was paying attention, he suddenly felt something small hit his foot.

He bent down and discovered a balled up note. He would have ignored it, thinking someone was out to call him fag again like they did back in his old school, but this school looked pretty accepting to him; a lot of kids were out and open about their relationships. He doesn't even talk, so how can someone make that assumption about him anyways?

Grabbing the note, he opened it carefully so that no one could hear the wrinkling of the paper. There, he discovered that someone had written it in clean, Chinese handwriting.

_ I never knew you had a liking to biáng noodles. Did your school had it as a punishment, too? _

_ -K _

Ah, it had been Kun. Kun sat behind him during class, so he must have looked over his shoulder and saw what he was doing. 

Xiaojun turned around to look at the Chinese, who had been listening to the teacher. He stole a glance of Xiaojun, though, and gave him a small smile before paying attention again. 

Xiaojun grabbed a post-it from his stack on the desk and wrote a reply. 

_ Nope, I just thought it was cool. I could really use some, though _ .

_ -X _

He rolled it up in a small ball and used his foot to roll it gently behind Kun. He could the latter use his foot to roll it over before picking it up to read it.

Soon enough, he felt another ball of paper roll over under his feet. 

_ I only have Singaporean noodles and Kompyang for lunch. I can give you some. _

_ -K _

Pretty soon, Xiaojun and Kun had a conversation made entirely of paper and post-it notes. 

_ Thanks, but it's fine, my mom made me some Kimchi. Not used to this Korean food tho :P _

_ It's fine, I usually get a lot since Yangyang steals everything and shares it with the group. - K _

_ Kun I know it's you you don't have to keep adding K _

_ I'll stop it if you accept the noodles - K _

_ Fine I'll eat the noodles. Don't you think it'll taste weird with kimchi though? _

_ Give Yangyang the kimchi - Q _

_ Now why are you adding a Q? _

_ It's my family name, Qian. You said stop the K, not the Q. - Q _

_ The intelligence of calculus is getting to your brain, Qian Kun _

_ It evens out with Yangyang's and Hendery's dumbness - Q _

***

Lunch with the WayV unit was extremely chaotic, per usual.

Yangyang, Hendery, Xiaojun and Kun were always present, since Si Cheng, Lucas and Ten alternate between sitting there and at the 127 table. Today, though, all seven were present, so it was even more hectic than usual. 

As Kun predicted, Yangyang took 2 of his for Kompyang, munching on one of them while tossing the other to Hendery. Lucas kept stealing bites of his noodles until Kun yelled at him and gave it to Xiaojun, who was delighted. Before Xiaojun could give Lucas the kimchi, though, Ten stole it, claiming that Lucas didn't deserve it.

All of this happened in the span of 40 seconds. 

They were talking about the movie Friday, which everyone was excited to see. However, Lucas, Hendery and Yangyang wanted to crash the two other units who were meeting that evening as well and, in lack of better words, annoy them.

"I want to see Jungwoo, he's staying after with the 127 unit," Lucas complained, wallowing in his rice. "It's not fair."

"Well, Johnny said he's gonna crash into our movie at one point and see if we have food left," Ten said. "That is, if they don't steal all the snacks Taeyong is surely going to bring to their meeting."

"Who wants to work on college applications, that's  _ so  _ boring," Yangyang said. "Isn't the Dream Unit doing karaoke? Kun, you're going to see your son, right?"

"Chen Le is a better son than all of you," Kun said, finishing his Kompyang quickly. "Of course I'm going to see him, I love him."

"Jisung's gonna  _ freak _ if you said that in front of him," Si Cheng said, typing away on his phone. "And y'all need to stop talking shit about 127,  _ I'm  _ in that unit."

"All you do is suck Japanese dick," Ten said, causing Si Cheng to spit out his bubble tea. "You're going to his soccer meet tomorrow, aren't you?"

"His meet was canceled, something about the coach not showing up today," Si Cheng said. "And I have never seen a dick in my life "

"Did you hear two janitors also went missing?" Hendery said. "There's no clue where they went." 

"You're next if you don't shut up," Ten argued back.

"Man, you guys always talk about bad stuff," Lucas interrupted them. "Why can't you say good news, like about Jaehyun and Taeyong?"

The Taeyong name sounded familiar. "Who's Taeyong?" Xiaojun asked. 

"Student body president and leader of the 127 unit," Ten answered. He shoved his phone in Si Cheng's face. "Here, I found a dick pic for you on google-"

"Ten get that away from me!" Si Cheng yelled, grabbing Ten's phone and throwing it at the table, which landed on Xiaojun's noodles. "Please don't tell me that's your boyfriend's!"

"I said it was on Google, dumbass, how are you so naive?!" Ten yelled back.

"Taeyong and Jaehyun are going on a date!" Lucas told Xiaojun, ignoring Ten and Si Cheng's bickering. "They're in my committee and I always knew they liked each other. I'm seeing them later after school."

Hendery pouted. "I'll never go on a date."

"Not all dates are worth it," Xiaojun said, finishing his noodles. Lucas had stolen a good chunk of it. "But they seem like a good couple."

Si Cheng reached over and stole Yangyang's orange, the latter whining. Si Cheng then proceeded to peel it and throw the slices on Ten's tray, causing the latter to scream and fall off his chair. 

"Wait, can you do it again, I didn't record," Hendery said while Ten started reciting death threats.

Kun sighed. "Just one normal lunch period. It's all I asked for."

***

Seoul was…  _ amazing.  _

After the long 23 hour flight from DC to Seoul, having slept during most of the flight, Jihoon couldn't help but be filled with adrenaline as he stepped outside of the airport, his suitcase lunging behind him while he stared at the view. 

The city was  _ full  _ of people. Kind of reminded him of DC, only here it was a place full of Koreans like him, normal people instead of those who worked for the government. It was different from what he was used to, but that didn't make it bad, instead, it was almost refreshing.

Soonyoung appeared in front of him, grinning. "So, what do you think?" he asked him in Korean.

"It's amazing," Jihoon said. "I've never been in another country before."

"We can do some sightseeing later if you want to," Soonyoung offered. "They're letting us rent a car, so we won't be at the mercy of the buses." 

"We should ride the bus at least once, though!" Jihoon exclaimed. "And we'll be able to go to a convenience store and make ramen there, and there's karaoke, and maybe see a Kpop group and-

Soonyoung let Jihoon rant. They probably weren't going to have enough time to do all those stuff, but it wouldn't hurt to let Jihoon daydream a little. Plus, it's not like they would force them to work 18 hours, they'll be  _ fine. _

"Let's go to the hotel," Soonyoung suggested, reaching out to grab Jihoon's hand. "We have to report in two hours and I want to take a nap."

Jihoon smiled, and it made Soonyoung's stomach flip for some unknown reason. "Let's see Korea."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have no idea when 00 is leaving dream so I decided to just cry while I wait, and then when it comes I'll cry even more


	7. Friday Afterschool

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Guys please stay safe during covid19
> 
> Not edited as always

_ Haechan was being a fucking tease.  _

_ He was straddled on Mark's lap, the two in their heated makeout session when he would every now and then roll his hips down on Mark, releasing a moan that was most definitely making Mark go hard. _

_ Mark watched as Haechan start unbuttoning the cute little white blouse he was wearing, tossing it the side of the bed as Mark reached up to pinch his nipples, Donghyuck's moans getting louder and louder- _

"MARK!!!" 

Mark sat upright on his bed, gasping for air, his sheets a tangled mess. Meanwhile, Haechan ran over to his best friend's closet, pulling out a pair of jeans and throwing it on the bed. 

"God, how many times do I have to tell you to go to sleep early?" Haechan scolded him, grabbing one of Mark's black hoodies and throwing it next to the jeans. "We're going to be late, just wear this, gosh, Mark, I'm gonna have to sleep over everyday at this rate."

That didn't sound like a bad idea to Mark at all, but he continued to let his best friend rant as he pulled his sheets off to get up-

Oh shit.

"-and I brought pancakes for the karaoke today- Mark, what's wrong, are you okay?" Donghyuck went to stand next to Mark and put his hand on Mark's forehead. "You're really sweaty. Did you have a bad dream?"

Mark quickly covered his body with the bedsheets again. "I think I'm going to shower."

"Guess I'm getting kicked out, then." Haechan grabbed his backpack from where he had thrown it earlier and walked out the door. "Be quick, we'll be late!!" he yelled before slamming the door shut.

Mark threw the covers again, sighing at his morning wood. It was really hard being in love with your best friend. 

\---

The two weren't going to make it to school by walking (thanks to Mark), so they were forced to take a bus ride instead, the two choosing to sit next to each other at the seats all the way at the back.

Mark was glad to have picked the window seat, even though the window was too cold to lay his head on it. He couldn't help but think about Donghyuck in his dream earlier. It's not the first time that it's happened, but it occurs more frequently and Mark just wants them to stop.

He knows Haechan here is never going to return his feelings for him, and that's okay. Haechan shouldn't be forced to be with him, but it was just really sad to think about. 

Lee Donghyuck was literally the most lovely person in the world and Mark couldn't help but fall for him everytime he saw the younger, like now for instance. Donghyuck had been conversing about his trip with Chen Le the day before but the way that he spoke, his hands moving excitedly as he continued to talk, his soft brown hair combed a certain way yet his fringes would cover certain parts of his eyes-

"-and then the mannequin moved so we started screaming-" Donghyuck had been telling him before stopping, since at that moment Mark decides to sweep his hair away from his eyes. 

Donghyuck's face was turning red, staring at Mark with his mouth partly opened, dumbfounded. Mark yanked his hand back, pretty sure that Donghyuck would notice his blush. 

"So-sorry, I thought you couldn't see," Mark stammered out. "What were you talking about?" 

Donghyuck hesitated before continuing. "The mannequin was moving so we screed," he spoke softly, his voice having quieted down. "It turned out  _ not  _ to be a mannequin and- yeah…"

Mark, embarrassed, turned his head away to stare out the window. "Cool, cool."

The two stayed quiet for a while until Haechan spoke up again. "You're going to homecoming, right? Chen Le said he wants to go as a group."

"Of course I am," Mark said. "I wouldn't miss it at all. Is everyone going to go?"

Donghyuck nodded. "Everyone except Jaemin, as always. You know, I really want to help him out but I don't want to come off as insensitive."

Mark nodded. "Yeah, especially if we tell Chen Le about it, man, he's so fucking rich."

Donghyuck tried to stifle a laugh. "Don't say it like that! But yeah, Chen Le is…  _ well off. _ You should have seen the clothes he was trying on yesterday, even worse, I had my ratty black converse on-"

"Your converse?" Mark laughed. "I've told you not to wear those when you go shopping with him! Remember how you had on a jacket with holes when he bought the Saint Laurent bag as a gift to Jeno?"

"And you with your ugly ass Android when he bought the newest Apple watch-"

"Don't make fun of my Android!" Mark yelled, Haechan continuing to laugh with tears in his eyes. "At least I can download music illegally."

"You own Spotify and Ukiss is on there-"

"Say one bad thing about them and I'll delete Marina and the Diamonds odd your phone-"

"YOU WOULDN'T DARE!"

  
  


***

It was… a bit daunting to show up at school that Friday, knowing his evening's plans.

He really didn't expect Jaehyun to have feelings for him romantically, it was really unexpected. Did Jaehyun ever flirt with him? Not really, Jaehyun was just a really nice person.

Maybe it was a dare? That would explain why it happened so suddenly. However, Jaehyun didn't seem to be that type of person though…

Whatever the case, Taeyong had to make sure he looked extra good today. He always dressed his best when it came to school, but he had never been on a date before. His mother told him to just wear a nice dress shirt and slacks, but he had a whole array of those and didn't know how to narrow it down. He had to wear the outfit not only to school, but then straight to a meeting with a teacher and then the 127 meeting and the date. He had a lot of stuff to do today. 

Last night, he had finally settled on a white button down shirt and his black jeans, his newly-cleaned converses pairing the outfit. It was a bit preppy for school, in his opinion, but it was still presentable. Hopefully he won't be oozing sweat throughout the day and he'll be fine. 

After grabbing his grana bar for breakfast, he quickly stuffed the bags of chips and cookies into a plastic bag, tying it shut. He also added cans of various sodas into his backpack, being careful that they don't ruin any of his homework. He was being snacks for the meeting later today, as he figured that the group would be very stressed and could use a break. 

He grabbed the bag and his backpack and left the house, locking the door before heading to the sidewalk. There at the end of the street was the bus at it's last stop before coming to Taeyong's house. 

Usually when he arrived at school, heading to his lockers Jaehyun would always greet him asking how his day has been going and if he's looking forward to today. How Jaehyun was going to act today, Taeyong had no clue, and he had less than an hour to prepare in his head what he was going to say to the latter. 

\---

Jaehyun was pretty sure he was going to chicken out. 

He couldn't believe it. He had actually asked out Taeyong the other day, and now they were going to see each other after school. Well,  _ after  _ after school, considering how they still had the meeting. 

He walked through the hallway up to Taeyong's locker, where the latter was putting his books and a bag inside, not noticing Jaehyun behind him. 

Jaehyun cleared his throat, startling Taeyong who dropped his math book on his converse. 

"Oh, sorry, I-" Jaehyun bent down to pick up the book and hand it to Taeyong. "I didn't mean to startle you."

Taeyong nodded, his hands shaking as he took the book back from Jaehyun. “It’s okay,” he reassured him. “It’s nothing, really.”

The two remained in silence, not making eye contact with other. Jaehyun kept shifting his weight on his feet while Taeyong started playing with the hem of his shirt, suddenly feeling self-conscious about his clothing choices. Were they okay? Were they a bit too much? Not enough? Jaehyun didn’t even tell him where they were going for dinner. 

Jaehyun was the first to break the silence. “I’ll see you later, then, hope your classes go well,” he said. “Don’t forget, it’s Friday! Last day before the weekend, after all.”

Taeyong couldn’t help but smile; it was, after all, Friday. He could have many things to do, but by the end of the day, he will be able to take a shower, finish his pocky and snuggle underneath his blankets until he goes to sleep.

Taeyong waved back to Jaehyun as the latter was leaving. “See ya,” he muttered. 

***

The observatory in Korea was  _ marvelous _ . 

The only places where Jihoon had ever worked for astronomy had been in the astronomy departments in his colleges and, of course, his current state of work, NASA, but it was really cool to see how different this place was, from their equipment and staff to the different projects that they worked on. 

The employee had given Soonyoung and Jihoon a tour of the place before taking them to the workstation, where the two worked together on some paperwork. 

It felt really different talking to others in Korean. Soonyoung was the only person that Jihoon ever talked to in Korean, other than his parents when he was little; it was usually them scolding him in secret while they made drug deals to their clients. He had to continue studying it online through years with the help of Soonyoung and crappy websites from back then to make sure he didn’t forget it. 

As the two continued their work, with some employees milling around every now and then to continue their work, Jihoon went to throw away some papers when one in the recycle bin caught his eye. 

It had been an observation disregarded as a fluke with its evidence attached to it. However, there were some anomalies that didn’t quite fit. 

Jihoon grabbed the papers and took them back to his desk to look at them more closely. Soonyoung must have noticed his puzzled face, since that’s when he started peppering Jihoon with questions. 

“Why do you look mad?” he laughed. “Did you find something?” 

Jihoon ignored him, flipping through the papers back and forth. He took out his notebook and flipped to the page from a few days ago, comparing the results until Soonyoung’s third ‘hello?’ knocked him out of his trance. 

“Yeah, you were saying something?” Jihoon asked, looking up at Soonyoung. 

“I said you looked mad about something,” Soonyoung reminded him. “Is something wrong? You have that face again.”    
  
Jihoon frowned. “I don’t have a face.”   
  
Soonyoung wanted to call him out but push down the urge to do so. “Well, you discovered  _ something _ . What is it that you’re looking at?” 

Jihoon handed Soonyoung his notebook. “You see these calculations we made from a few days ago? They’re not matching up, it means that the celestial object moved, but unlike other celestial bodies, it’s not following a trajectory path, more like-“   
  
“It’s gone,” Soonyoung finished. “It landed.” 

Jihoon rolled his eyes. “That’s not funny-“   
  
“No, Jihoon, I’m being serious.” Soonyoung went through the folders scattered on his desk until he pulled out one near the bottom, showing Jihoon some coordinates. “It must have landed, some organisms or some shit that landed here, it explains the unpredictable movements and why they suddenly disappeared-“   
  
“That makes no sense, if it would have landed here, we would have discovered it when it entered our atmosphere, plus it would have been in flames and caused a commotion,” Jihoon argued. “And I really doubt it’s aliens-“   
  


“Well, there’s only one way to find out,” Soonyoung said. He typed the coordinates on the computer, which revealed to be in a forest behind a high school in Seoul, called the Neo Culture Technology School according to Naver. “Do you remember what time we get out?”   
  
“Around four,” Jihoon reminded him. “Wait, what are you planning?”   
  
“You’re gonna have to wait.”   
  
***

Xiaojun was really excited to watch the movie. 

Since they had agreed on six, he had a bit of time until they agreed to meet at the classroom, so he decided to sit at one of the benches around the outskirts of the school to do his homework in peace while he waited. 

It wasn’t even ten minutes into his dreaded math homework when he received a text from Kun, asking what the latter was doing. Math could wait. 

Xiaojun sent a quick reply to Kun telling him where he was when he noticed some rustling coming near the forest next to the school. Probably some high school students, class did just let out a while ago. 

He continued to work on his homework, doing some problem with cotangent and what not (when was he ever going to use cotangent in his life, does he even remember what his last career choice was?) when he continued to hear rustling from behind him. It was starting to creep him out; the school said that no dangerous animals lived there but what if they were wrong? The last thing Xiaojun needed was another snake bite; his ex had a python and Xiaojun often wondered if that thing was going to swallow him whole every time he carried it, he didn’t need any more nightmares, thank you very much. 

Sighing, he set down his books to go check it out. It was probably just an animal that got injured. His mother told him the other day that one of her co-workers told her that many people used the forest to abandon their animals and pets, which sounded awful to Xiaojun’s ears. It’s probably want was causing the noise. Hopefully he’ll be able to save them in time. 

He entered the opening of the forest, trying not to step on any debris as to cause a commotion and startle the injured the animal. His phone ringed but he ignored it, deciding to respond to it in a minute. 

It wasn’t until he was about 50 feet in that he saw a person standing behind a tree staring straight at him. His face lacked emotion and its eyes didn’t appear to be in focus. 

“Uh, can I help you?” Xiaojun asked him quietly, confuse as to what this person was doing. 

The guy suddenly lunged toward Xiaojun, wrapping his arms around the latter as Xiaojun struggled to get out of his grasp. Only he would be dumb enough to check out a noise in the forest, how stupid could he be? And now he was going to die.

Xiaojun tried to pry the guy’s arms off him but immediately felt something sharp pierce his upper arm, causing him to go limp from the pain. He could already feel his arm get numb-

He could hear someone shouting, and the guy let go of him, causing Xiaojun to fall onto the ground as he fell unconscious. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I accidently made my sis obsessed over woozi and skz Aussie line


	8. Disperse

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> MARK IS COMING BACK YOOOOOOOOOOO   
I still need to update SFY and the village in the forest but I was so happy I just updated this early! Enjoy!
> 
> SLIGHT violence warning I guess, I'm not sure if this story will be strong enough to have a change in eating, let me know what u think

“I miss Si Chengie,” Yuta said for the third time since the 127 meeting started. It started at 6:00, and it was now 6:02. 

“I miss silence,” Taeil mocked the latter, who was typing on a computer next to him. “I can’t  _ believe  _ I have to type 2000 words for this scholarship, it’s only giving me $500!”   
  
“Hey, $500 is $500.” Johnny took a sip of the soda that Taeyong had brought for the group today. He didn’t plan on being productive today. “Let me tell you, y’all think tuition is bad here in Korea? In the US it’s way worse.”

“This is why we should all go to college and get a good education to get good careers and destroy capitalism and the patriarchy,” Doyoung said, doing his homework while at the same time writing an essay on the computer. Who knows, it was probably too smart for them to understand, anyways.

“Hmm, okay boomer,” Johnny continued, taking another sip.

Doyoung frowned. “I’m younger than you.”   
  
“That sounds like something a boomer would say-“   
  
“Johnny, you’re the one who was actually going to eat a tide-pod,” Yuta reminded him. “Until Ten stopped you and called you an idiot.”   
  
The seven of them (Si Cheng was not there, since he decided to watch a movie instead of suffering like the rest of them; Mark and Haechan also didn’t show up since they thought doing karaoke was a much better use of their time) were in the classroom like usual, not doing what they had originally planned – well, only three of them were doing it. Not even Taeyong himself, as he was too busy staring at a blank document on his laptop and has been in that position for five minutes. 

Jaehyun took a bite of the Pocky that he had brought with him before poking Taeyong’s cheek with it. “Hey, you good?”

Taeyong jolted in his seat before realizing it was Jaehyun. “Yeah, sorry, I’m just stuck on this assignment.”   
  
“A feeling I can relate all too well,” Jaehyun agreed. “Do you want-“   
  


A pounding on the door interrupted everyone’s conversations in the room. 

The door must have been locked by accident because of Jungwoo, since he went to a drink of the water fountain ten minutes before, so Taeyong got up from his seat to open it. It must have been someone from the Dream or WayV units. 

His guess was confirmed when he opened the door, revealing to be a very out of breath Kun, who continued to gasp for air. “Taeyong,” he managed to sputter out, taking another few seconds before saying his next words. “You don’t happen to have the keys to the nurse’s office, do you?”   
  


***

It has been only five minutes into karaoke, and there was already a fight. 

Well, it wasn’t really a malicious fight, more like Jaemin and Jeno trying to wrestle each other for the one and only caramel popcorn bag that Renjun brought. Chen Le had gone up first, singing some NEX7 song in Chinese, and Jisung was the only one paying attention to him. Donghyuck usually would have sang along, but he doesn’t even know what Ni Hao means, so he and Mark took turns grabbing Pocky sticks (there had been a sale at the supermarket the other day) while watching the Jeno vs Jaemin fight. 

“This is way better than doing homework and college with the boomers,” Donghyuck said, grabbing one of the matcha Pocky sticks. He would literally kill Ten for a Pocky stick at this rate. 

“True, true.” Mark wrapped the blanket that was covering them two tighter around them. “$5, who do you think will eat it-“   
  
“Oh, definitely Jeno,” Haechan answered. “He takes a weights class for his PE requirement-“   
  
Right at that moment, the YouTube video that they had been using to play the songs showed a no internet signal, causing Chen Le to cry out and everyone to stop and stare.

“Right when it was about to end, gosh dang it!” He slammed the microphone on the teacher’s desk, which was next to the whiteboard where he was standing; they had been using the projector to display the lyrics. “The internet at this school sucks.”   
  
Jisung got up from his spot on the desk and went to the computer, refreshing the page. The dinosaur on the chrome page appeared, meaning that there was no signal. “Uh, guys, there’s no internet.”   
  
“Don’t worry, we can just play it on our phones.” Donghyuck took out his phone from his pocket and opened up the YouTube app, showing a white screen with the refresh button. “Shit, I don’t have signal!”    
  


“Does  _ anyone  _ have signal?” Jaemin said, taking his hands off Jeno. Jeno used this opportunity to grab the caramel popcorn bag and started eating some pieces.

“No signal here,” Renjun said, waving his phone in the air. “Wait-“   
  
All seven phones in the room started vibrating, playing a loud chime before the screen turned black. 

“That was the worst thing I  _ ever  _ heard,” Jisung said. “Now my phone won’t even turn on!”   
  
Mark sighed, throwing the blanket off him and Haechan before getting up. “Looks like we have to investigate, the school’s internet router might be acting up.”   
  
Donghyuck reached over to grab the last of the Pocky that he and Mark brought, disappointed that karaoke night was ruined. “I’ll go with you, I want to get more snacks from the vending machine.”    
  


“Bring me a twix!” Chen Le shouted, opening his backpack. “Hey, maybe my IPad will turn on-"   
  


Renjun pouted, crossing his arms across his chest. “I want a snickers.”

“I want a Milky Way-“ Jeno started to say before Jaemin covered his mouth.    
  
“Well,  _ clearly,  _ I look like an ATM, here,” Donghyuck through his backpack at Jeno, heading to the door with Mark. “I have cosmic brownies, have fun, guys.”   
  
“Fuck the cosmos,” Jisung yelled before taking the bag from Jeno.   
  
Jaemin gasped. “Language!”   
  


***

“It’s been ten minutes, where in the  _ world  _ are Kun and Xiaojun?” Hendery yelled, slamming his head on the chalkboard. The door had been left unlocked by the teacher when school ended, so they were able to wait inside, but the latter two have yet to make an appearance. 

“Maybe they finally confessed their love to each other,” Ten said, filing his nails again as he sat at his usual desk. "Kun's literally been eyefucking the new guy since he first saw him."

"Nah, Kun probably thinks you got to wait until marriage to hold hands," Yangyang argued, continuing his chalk drawing of a robotic dinosaur shooting eye lasers at flying pirates. "Does Kun even know how to hold hands?"

"You guys exaggerate so much, they probably had to do something real quick," Si Cheng said, typing away on his phone.

"If he doesn't come in five minutes I'm going straight to the 127 meeting and hanging out with Jungwoo," Lucas pouted, crossing his arms. "He's probably having fun."

A sharp piercing sound of a ringing interrupted the group, with Si Cheng throwing his phone on the ground, displaying a black screen when the ringing stopped.

"What the fuck was that?!" He yelled, extending his foot to reach his foot.

"Sucks for you," Ten said, pulling out his own phone. "It also seemed to have come from my phon- hey it won't turn on."

"Looks like aliens are about to invade earth," Yangyang said, added aliens and a moon to his drawing. "All because of the flat-earthers."

"You need to stop smoking crack," Ten yelled at him, grabbing his charger from his backpack and heading to the wall to plug it in. "Now let me borrow your phone."

"I would  _ never  _ do drugs!" Yangyang yelled, grabbing the chalk eraser and rubbing it over the board. "Drugs are bad and yeet your intelligence."

"You're definitely on drugs- Lucas what the fuck are you doing?"

Said Lucas had jumped out of his chair and walked towards the door. "I'm hungry, I want to get a snack."

"I'm literally right here," Ten argued.

"Damn, Ten tryna cheat on Johnny," Si Cheng said, tossing his phone on the ground. "What am I supposed to do now?"

Lucas walked out of the room, but the group heard his boisterous voice two seconds later. "Kun, what the fuck are you doing-"

He ran back into the room and shouted at the WayV unit. "Kun is dragging a body through the hallway with Taeyong and Jaehyun!!"

"LITERALLY WHAT DRUGS ARE YOU GUYS ON?!" Ten shouted before running out of the door. The group could hear Ten yelling back and forth with said Kun. 

"I always thought Kun's first murder would be one of you three," Si Cheng said to other three in the room before Ten came back in. "Yo, what's going on?"

Ten locked the door before coming back in. "Kun said that someone was trying to kill Xiaojun, he's taking him to the nurse's office with Taeyong and his boyfriend, he said not to leave for now."

"Is Xiaojun all right?!?" Yangyang asked, walking to where the door was. "We have to see if he's okay!!"

"What part of there's murderers outside do you not understand?!" Ten yelled back at him. "As co-leader, no one's leaving the room until I say so, I don't want to be responsible for taking your asses to the emergency room."

Hendery grabbed the phone off the teacher's desk, putting it to his ear before slamming it down five seconds later. "Line's been disconnected."

"Phones are off too," Si Cheng said. "We can't even call 119."

  
  


***

  
  


Xiaojun woke up with a pounding headache and his body full of pain.

Well, the lights actually woke him up, but they were probably the reason why his headache seemed to be in more pain. 

He blinked open his eyes, squinting against said harsh light, noticing a figure seated across from him, squeezing his hand. When the initial blurriness went away, he discovered it to be Kun. 

The latter must of notice him awake because Kun soon let go of his hands, a faint blush appearing on his cheeks. "You're awake."

Xiaojun pushed himself up, lying his back against the wall as he tried to ignore the growing headache. "What happened?"

"You were being attacked," Kun explained. "I saw you enter the woods and I tried to fight the thing off, but…" he trailed off, looking away.

That's when Xiaojun noticed the blood stains covering Kun's white T-shirt, his left arm bandaged. There were scratches decorating his face as well. 

He sat up straighter to get a better look at Kun. "Are you okay, it looks like you lost a lot of blood."

"Oh, this?" Kun pointed at his own shirt. "This is your own blood."

It was his  _ what?!? _

Xiaojun threw the blanket that was covering his body off of him and was shocked to see his clothing. His beloved black and red sweater had been torn from the bottom, exposing some of his abdomen which was covered in gauze. From newly made holes, he could see bruises decorating his arms. He didn't even want to see his legs. 

"What caused this?" Xiaojun asked, not believing he was injured. "What thing were you fighting, anyways?"

"Well, it was a person, but…"

Xiaojun shrugged. "What about it?"

Kun waved him off. "Nothing, just weird, I don't know why he was hurting you."

"Was he a tall, muscular dude or a short middle-aged man?" Xiaojun asked. 

Kun frowned. "Nooo… Why would you ask that?"

"So it's not my ex or my dad," Xiaojun said. "Well, I got nothing."

"I don't know who it was, but it was definitely not a student," Kun reassured him. He opened up his backpack and pulled out a water bottle to hand to Xiaojun. "Here, drink this, you lost a lot of blood. What's your blood type, by the way?"

Xiaojun shrugged, taking the water bottle from Kun. "No clue."

"Well, I'm B and Jaehyun was A, Taeyong didn't know his either so they went to find someone who was O negative, just in case. I would text them, but-" Kun lifted up his phone, pressing the on button but not getting a response. "Phones aren't working, they released a loud noise before shutting down when we were in the hallway, no idea why."

"Thanks for everything," Xiaojun said. "I can't believe I was almost… you really think they were going to murder me?"

"Probably, I dragged you to the school and took almost an hour trying to stop the bleeding, I'll never see my sweatshirt again." Kun laughed for a bit but his face turned serious again. "You did lost a lot of blood, though, I'm glad you're okay."

Xiaojun smiled. "Really, thanks."

  
  


***

  
  


"Are these woods safe?" Jihoon said, following Soonyoung into the forest. 

Soonyoung had parked the rental car at the high school's parking lot and was now dragging Jihoon to the forest behind the school.

"Jihoon, it's broad daylight, nothing's going to happen," Soonyoung said. "Plus, people here aren't crazy like the US, though the justice system is still shitty."

Jihoon was still hesitating to go in but didn't like Soonyoung going in alone, so Soonyoung grabbed Jihoon's hand and pulled him in, the two following the information Soonyoung had entered on his phone. They didn't even make it for five seconds, though, when Soonyoung noticed a tree covered in…

"Is that  _ blood _ ?" Soonyoung asked, letting go of Jihoon's hand to inspect the tree. It looked fairly new, made today, and there were smears of it on the tree and ground as well. 

"That's it, I'm going to the car," Jihoon said, turning around only for Soonyoung to grab his hand again. 

"No, no, no, you're not leaving me alone, you know what I feel about death and people dying," Soonyoung said before realizing what he said. 

Jihoon rolled his eyes, shaking off Soonyoung's hands. "Figured. My apologies for having given you that experience, you're the one who entered my house."

"That's not what I meant, look-hey, come back here." Soonyoung grabbed his hand for the thrift time in a row before a loud ringing interrupted them.

Jihoon pulled out his phone, realizing it was coming not only from there but from Soonyoung's as well. "Hoshi, your-" he managed to say before the screen turned black. "What?"

Soonyoung took out his phone from his back pocket, realizing it won't turn on. "Weird, maybe a glitch shut it down. Probably won't restart until we charge it."

"How are we going to do that, you don't have the charging adapter for cars," Jihoon asked, stuffing his phone back into his pocket. 

"Hey, we still have the regular chargers, let's go inside the school and charge them there," Soonyoung said, walking back to the school, tiny Jihoon struggling to follow him.

"How do you know the school is open, it's like past six," Jihoon said, practically jogging.

"There's cars here, probably after school students," Soonyoung said, stopping to let Jihoon catch up. "I doubt they would mind."

They walked around the school to where the main entrance was, which was unlocked, as expected. There, they could see what they assumed was the main office, the lights already on . 

"Look, there's outlets," Soonyoung said, plugging his phone on the wall beside the guest chairs, sitting down on one of them. "Let's just wait a few minutes and continue. Actually, maybe we should just get dinner-"

Soonyoung stopped when he saw two men enter the main entrance as well through the first set of double doors, only their faces looked completely blank and were staring straight at them. They also had red stains covering their clothing, and it didn't take long for Soonyoung to put two and two together. 

He snatched his phone off the wall and stuffed it in his pocket in record time, dragging Jihoon with him to where the hallway was with lights when Jihoon also noticed the men who were now trying to open the second set of double doors to where they were.

"Uh, Soonyoung-"

Soonyoung ran into an opened room with it's lights one, dragging Jihoon inside as well before successfully closing and locking the door, managing to feel it slam on one of the other guys.

They backed away from the door, hearing the two men continue to pound on it.

"Who the hell are you?" They turned around to see two students, one lying on a small bed and the other sitting beside him. 

This must be the nurse's room, Soonyoung thought, only why the two were covered in scratches and bandages were questions for another day.

"Uh, I think those people want to hurt us, they had blood on them," Soonyoung answered, trying to zone out the continuing pounding. 

"No, no, no, Jaehyun and Taeyong were suppose to come back here," the one sitting down said. "If only our phones worked-"

"Your phones don't work, too?" Jihoon said, taking his out. "Ours screeched and turned off, we came inside the school to charge it-"

Just then, one of the guys managed to make a hole in the door with his hand.

"Shit, shit, SHIT!!" Soonyoung pushed Jihoon towards the other side of the room, where the healthier student grabbed the other one out of the bed and stood in front of him.

Jihoon tried to ramble trough the drawers, trying to find a weapon while Soonyoung picked up the long metal bar behind the nurse's desk and raised it above his head. "Jihoon, hide!!"

"I can't, they know I'm already here-"

The poundings against the door stopped, the arm that went through going limp. 

No one moved for a couple of seconds until they heard someone tell outside. "Kun! Xiaojun! You okay?"

"That's Jaehyun," one of the students said, running to open the door where they found the two creepy men on the ground, one with a knife behind his back and another with some green oozing out of his head, with three students standing in place. "Guys, you okay?"

"Yeah, we're fine," one of them said; a chair laid broken beside him, which he must of used to hit the creepy men. "We brought Taeil, he was the only one with O blood."

"Who are these, Kun?" The one called Jaehyun said, pointing to Soonyoung and Jihoon.

"Kind of hard to do introductions with people trying to kill you," Soonyoung said. "I'm Soonyoung, this is Jihoon, we're from America and I think I know who these people are."

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> YALL NEED TO STREAM SIT DOWN SO BAD
> 
> Also what was the markhyuck summer fight that required them to change rooms


	9. Dasi Run Run Run

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> unedited obviously  
YALL IM ON A ROLL TODAY I'VE UPDATED LIKE THREE OF MY STORIES TODAY IM SO PROUD OF MYSELF

“-so, like, Renjun was complaining about this one Chinese meal he misses, I think it was like some spicy beef or whatnot,” Haechan said, munching on his candy bar while Mark put in his last dollar bill in the machine. “He found a restaurant here that sells it and wants to go tomorrow.”

The pair had been taking longer than necessary, first heading to the vending machines to grab the snacks that their whiny friends had asked for (they still loved them, though). They had seen Taeyong and Jaehyun near the end of the hallway but didn’t get the chance to yell hello, although now that Mark thought about it, he was going to need Taeyong’s keys. 

“Are you sure the computer room is opened?” Mark asked, reaching into the machine to pull out another milky way. 

Haechan shrugged. "We should have ran after Taeyong and asked him for the keys."

"Well, there's no harm in checking." Mark stuffed the last remaining candy bar into his hoodie. "Besides-"

The power went out.

"Jesus Christ, what is going ON today?" Donghyuck yelled, kicking the wall in anger.

Mark looked at the control pad of the vending machine, the lights not displaying anymore. "Well, at least it happened after we got all the candy."

"Let's just go to the room and get everything figured out." Haechan grabbed Mark's arm and pulled him further, the two walking through the hallway. "We got a karaoke session we must complete."

Mark sighed. "For Ukiss."

"No, Marina."

"Ukiss."

"MARINA!"

"UKISS!!!"

"MA- uh, Mark, look-"

Haechan was pointing at a figure at the end of the hallway. It was a small hallway at the end of the school, since this was the only vending machine that had Mark's Reese's pieces. They were near the classroom the 127 unit used, although they weren't hearing screaming as usual since it was in one of the main hallways and they were hidden. 

"That looks like an older guy," Haechan said. "Creepy."

"Yeah, let's go to the computer room and get things checked out." Mark grabbed Haechan's arm, ignoring his pulsing heartbeat, and the two walked towards the computer room.

The school's WiFi was controlled in here, not the main office like most people would think. The lights were controlled by the main office, however, so they'll have to check it out later. 

The door was locked, as expected. Luckily, Mark had experience in picking locks from that one summer he tried to impress Haechan by sneaking into the community pool together at night, and now he just used it for when he forgot his keys at home. 

Taking the paper clip he always kept in his jeans, Mark kneeled down and got to work while Donghyuck watched, as usual. 

"Doesn't the school have cameras or something?" Donghyuck asked him. "You're going to get arrested."

Mark managed to get the door opened. "Haechan, remember buddy, you're my partner in crime, you'll get arrested, too."

"That's cause I know how not to get caught," Haechan said, pretending to flip imaginary long hair. "You can’t even steal a fry from Johnny."

"You  _ literally  _ steal all my fries during lunch."

"That's not stealing, that's  _ borrowing _ ." Haechan walked into the room, Mark following suit, closing the door behind him. "Mark, I can't see."

"Shit, my bad." Mark opened the door again slightly so they wouldn't be in pure darkness. The room didn't have windows, and with no power, it was pitch black. "If only our phones were working."

"Mark, you're forgetting that Mr. Park is a crazy lunatic," Haechan said, heading towards the teacher's desk, cursing when he hit the edge. "Remember, he thinks technology will stop working and there'll be an apocalypse."

"Yeah, like zombies or aliens or some shit." Mark walked slowly to where Haechan was, waving his arms around in order to not bump into anything. "Didn't Mr. Byun say that he keeps emergency supplies everywhere?"

"Precisely." Haechan pulled the cabinets from the desk, rummaging around. When he didn't find anything, he pulled another one and was also disappointed. "Nothing here."

"Doesn't he keep a flashlight on his desk?" Mark roamed his hands around until he felt something. A light suddenly appeared, a soft glow on the desk. He picked the flashlight and used it to point at Haechan. "Found it."

"Okay, but how are we going to fix the wifi when there is no power?" 

"Fair point." Mark looked around and saw one of the routers of the Wifi. "Maybe we should just head back."

"Glad the cameras aren't working since we might as well go to jail," Haechan said. "No proof of who went through Mr. Park's stuff, he's going to think there are demons after him again."

"Mr. Byun is practically a demon, though." Now that he could see where he was going, he made his way towards the doorway, Haechan behind him. "Bet five dollars Chen Le screamed when the lights went out."

"No, Chen Le is used to Renjun flickering the lights to him, my bet is Jeno." They stepped out to the hallway, closing the door behind them.

There, at the end of the hallway was the same figure again. It looked to be standing still. 

"Is he lost?" Haechan held his palm out, so Mark handed him the flashlight. "Let me go ask him real quick."

Mark nodded, so Haechan took that as a cue and walked towards the man, shining the light in his direction. 

"Hello?? Sir??" Haechan waved his hand, hoping to draw attention. "Are you lost?"

The figure snapped its neck to their direction instantaneously, not saying anything. They couldn't see his face that well, but it looked to be blank and expressionless. 

"Why does he look like a serial killer," Mark whispered to Donghyuck, who kept waving the light to the man.

"Hello? Sir? Is everything okay?" Donghyuck continued asking the man, shouting louder.

It wasn’t until the man started sprinting towards them that Mark realized he was probably right. 

He hastily grabbed Haechan’s arm, dragging him back into the classroom and locking the door. 

The man must have reached up to them quickly when they started hearing pounding on the door. By the way he was hitting it, surely he must have broken it by now, but thankfully, Mr. Park was a lunatic and installed a metal door compared to the other flimsy wooden doors in this school. The school couldn’t say anything since he was a two-time nobel peace prize winner at the age of 25. 

Course, Mr. Park tried to install some technology of entering passcodes and eye scanners but the school put their foot down, saying that the school needed copies of keys for the classrooms.

The two held their breath, visibly shaking as they heard the man continuing to pound the door, showing no signs of stopping. 

“Mark, what are we going to do?” Haechan whispered, his eyes filling with tears. “Our friends, they’re in the school, he’s going to hurt them."

Mark grabbed onto Haechan’s hand, the one without the flashlight. Somehow,  _ somehow _ , Haechan had held onto it, thankfully. “Don’t worry, they’re with each other, nothing will happen to them.”

Haechan nodded, sitting down on one of the desks in the room. “So we just wait?’

Mark sat down on the desk next to him, scooting it closer so that he could put his arm around the latter. “We wait.”   
  


  
***

“So there  _ is  _ proof of aliens!” Jaehyun exclaimed. “The US government has just been hiding that information from us!”

“What  _ doesn’t  _ the states hide,” Jihoon said. “And I’m not sure if NASA relayed that information to the president yet, probably not a big deal to the Department of Defense.”

“The what now?”

“ Wouldn’t it be the Department of Homeland Security?” Soonyoung said to Jihoon. “Isn’t that what they taught us in Government class?”

“I never realized how much advantage Johnny has,” Jaehyun muttered to himself. 

The seven of them have stayed in the nurse’s office for now. Worst part was that the power went out, but Taeyong’s keys have a flashlight keychain, which they’ve been using to see. From his emergencies course that he had taken in the summer, he had been able to take some of Taeil’s blood with a clean sterilized needle the nurse had and inject it to Xiaojun. 

“Well, at least those two guys aren’t a problem anymore,” Taeil said, rubbing the sore spot on his arm where they had extracted the blood. “I’m pretty sure they’re dead.”

They had dragged the two bodies outside, locking the main office doors with some passcode Taeyong had access to for being the president and his school's masterkeys.

Kun shook his head. “No we don’t.”

“Wait, really?” Jaehyun asked. “Why not?”

“Those weren’t the ones who attacked Xiaojun in the forest,” Kun explained. “The man looked different and I managed to hurt his shoulder and head. These people don’t have those injuries.”

“That’s it, you guys need to go home,” Soonyoung said. “If you don’t have cars, we’ll drive you.”

“You can’t do that.” Taeyong got up from his seat to look at Soonyoung. “There’s more people here in the school.”

“Well, they have to leave too.”

“We can go get them,” Jaehyun reassured Taeyong, rubbing the latter’s back. “Don’t worry, they won’t get hurt."

“How many people are here in the building that you know of?” Jihoon asked them.

“In the 127 meeting, there was like ten of us?” Jaehyun answered. “Except Winwin, he said he had to see the movie, Kun, was he there?”

Kun shook his head. “I don’t know who showed up to the meeting.”

“We saw Lucas and Ten,” Taeyong mentioned. “And the Dream unit is here as well, I don’t know who showed up.”

“17...18...there should be approximately 21 of us, including us five here.” Jaehyun continued to count to himself for a few seconds. “Should be five people in the Chinese classroom for WayV, 7 in the music room for the Dream meeting, and 4 in the Korean lit classroom for 127.”

“I can go get the other club members,” Taeil offered. “It’s just Johnny, Jungwoo, Doyoung and Yuta there.”

“No, no one should be alone," Kun argued, helping Xiaojun get off the nurse's bed. He was still weak, but hopefully the extra blood would help him get his strength back. 

"Well,  _ someone  _ has to get them."

"I'll go," Taeyong said. "We have to get Dream and WayV as well-"

"I'll go with you." Jaehyun headed to the door. "Kun, stay here with Xiaojun, we're telling everyone to meet here. And as for you guys, uh-" Jaehyun stopped at the two adults. "Um.."

"We don't know our way around this school, so I guess we'll stay," Soonyoung insisted. "Plus these two shouldn't be alone."

"Right, okay." Taeyong rubbed his two palms together vigorously, trying to calm himself down. "We got a plan."

  
  


***

"And then there were four~" Johnny was singing in English, causing Yuta to throw an eraser at him.

"Can you  _ shut  _ up for one second?!" Yuta yelled. He got up from his chair and headed towards the door. "I'm going to find Si Cheng, see you later, fuckers."

"Now where the fuck do you think you're going?!" Doyoung yelled at him, leaping off his chair. "Are you  _ trying  _ to get murdered?"

"Actually at this rate, yes." Yuta unlocked the door, stepping into the hallway. 

"Why don't we all go?" Jungwoo suggested. "I want to see Yukhei."

" _ No one  _ is leaving,” Doyoung said, pulling Yuta back into the classroom and slamming the door shut. "You guys can keep your dicks in your pants for a few more minutes."

"Excuse me, Ten and I are waiting for marriage," Johnny argued. He got up from the desk he had been sitting on and stared down at Doyoung. 

"Wait, deadass?" Yuta asked, confused. Johnny looked horny all the time.

"Pfft, yeah, did you think I slept around or something?" Johnny tried to pull Doyoung off the door. "Let me see Ten!!"

Doyoung maintained his grip, although Johnny was proving to be stronger than him. "No!! We are staying!!"

"Uh, guys?" Jungwoo pointed to three figures outside the window. "There's people outside looking at us."

The three stopped to look at who Jungwoo was pointing. Sure enough, there were three figures outside, about 100 feet away, standing still.

"Are those the people who hurt Xiaojun?" Doyoung asked, stepping closer to the window. "Weird, they also have blank faces…"

Jungwoo sat next to the window and started tapping on the glass. "Hello? Hello??"

"Jungwoo, you  _ might  _ not want to do that-" Johnny said before a brick shattered through the window, glass falling everywhere, including on Jungwoo.

"Holy  _ shit,  _ Jungwoo!!" Doyoung pulled Jungwoo away from the window, the latter a face bleeding. "Guys, come on!"

They all made their way into the hallway, almost tripping on one another. "Where are we going?!" Yuta screeched, hearing more glass break behind them.

"Just go to the WayV classroom, come on!" Johnny yelled, running towards the direction of the Chinese classroom.

The four continued their sprint, with Doyoung tripping once, Yuta and Johnny practically pulling him off the ground to continue running. Soon enough, they heard footsteps behind them-

"Guys, hold up! What are you doing??"

It was Jaehyun!

They turned around to see Jaehyun, with Taeyong and Taeil close behind him. 

"What are you guys doing?" Jaehyun repeated again, catching up to them. "Why are you running?"

"Creeping men outside threw a brick at the window and are chasing us!!" Johnny yelled, pointing at Jungwoo. "Look at what they did!"

"Holy shit, Jungwoo, you need to go to the nurse," Jaehyun said. "One of you guys take him, the others need to go get WayV and meet up at the office, we'll get Dream."

"The Dream members, oh no." Taeyong turned around and sprinted the other direction.

"Taeyong! Shit, guys go to the WayV club and then to the office, quick!" Jaehyun chased after his crush, hoping no one would get hurt in the process.

  
  


***

When the lights went out, Jisung was the one who screamed. 

Now the five were stuck in the classroom, waiting for Mark and Haechan to return. 

  
  


“If they don’t come back in five minutes, that means they died,” Renjun said, 

“They’re meditating, g-”

“Oh, god, not that joke again.” Jisung sighed, playing with Chen Le’s hair. The latter was resting his head on Jisung’s shoulder, having run out of energy after eating the cosmic brownies. 

Jeno made a face. “You’re not funny."

“I wonder if they have been secretly dating and are doing stuff right now,” Jaemin said. “I doubt they aren’t a couple.”

“They’re both idiots, I’m not surprised.” Renjun sat down on the teacher’s chair, spinning it around. “Why they would come here after school only to fuck, I don’t know."

“Exhibitionism is a well-known kink, Renjun,” Jeno said, smirking at him. 

“Well,  _ I  _ don’t know if I have a stabbing kink, what to test it out, Jeno?” Renjun yelled, glaring at him. 

“You two, shut up!” They turned around to look at Jaemin, who was covering the ears of a very annoyed Jisung. “There’s a baby here.” 

“Jaemin, shut up, you’re only, like, a year older than me,” Jisung said, shaking his head for Jaemin’s hands to come off. “Besides, I have a bigger dick than all of you.”

“Curse you and your stature,” Renjun muttered under his breath. 

“Shut up, Jisung, you’re only an inch bigger than me,” Jaemin yelled. “Plus, mine’s thicker.”

“Okay, I’m sorry, have you guys been comparing dick sizes or something?” Jeno said. “Why have I not been informed?”

“Why, did you want to join?” Jaemin winked at him.

“Sh-shut up, I’m the king of flirting in this classroom.”

“Hate to break it to you, Jeno, but that’s Jaemin’s title-”

They were startled by some twisting the doorknob and slamming the door open. 

“Guys, get your stuff, we have to leave  _ now. _ ”

“Taeyong!” Chen Le got up from the floor and ran towards Taeyong, giving him a hug. No one missed Jisung’s glare. “What are you doing here?”

“Guys, not safe, you need to-” Jaehyun stopped when he saw the inside of the classroom. “Where’s Mark and Haechan?”

“They went to check the Wifi,” Jaemin explained. “The internet cut off and our phones all-”

“Screamed and turned off? Yeah, ours too,” Jaehyun finished.

Taeyong’s eyes filled with more worry. “Jaehyun, what are we going to do, those two are roaming around alone-”

“Uh, guys,” Jeno told the group, pointing towards something - or should he say, some _ one  _ \- at the end of the hallway. “Whose that?”

Jaehyun and Taeyong turned around, their eyes widening. 

Wasting no time, Jaehyun shoved all of them back into the classroom, locking the door while pressing his back onto it, ignoring everyone’s confused screaming. “Guys, there’s aliens out here trying to kill us-”

“ALIENS?!” Renjun exclaimed. He was a big believer in aliens and conspiracies. 

“No way, aliens are fake,” Jisung denied Jaehyun’s claim. “People are just looking for attention-”

“No, it is definitely  _ not _ -” Jaehyun fell forward, falling flat on the floor, as they noticed that a hand had punched through the door. “Ow!”

“Jaehyun!” Taeyong knelt down next to him, trying to pull him away from the door. “Come on, we have to leave!”

Jaemin grabbed one of the metal chairs that the teacher had and started hitting on the hand, but it was no use - the alien had more strength and stamina than him. Jeno took another chair and started help him hit the arm as well, with a green liquid quite different from blood started oozing. The alien used his other hand to jab another hole into the door, so Jeno grabbed the arm and attempted to twisting it.

Jaehyun got up and grabbed the chair Jeno dropped. “Guys, head to the back of the classroom,” he said. Chen Le, Jisung and Renjun moved back as instructed, Chen Le holding onto Taeyong’s waist as Taeyong stood in front of them, holding them back. 

“On the count of three,” he whispered to Jeno and Jaemin. 

When he reached the number three, Jaehyun opened the door and lunged at the man, grabbing onto it’s neck and snapping it. 

“You know, for aliens, I thought they would be stronger than us,” Jaehyun commented. “All they can do is break doors with their bare hands.”

Jaemin looked into the hallway. “No one’s in the hallway.”

“Okay, can you guys  _ please  _ tell us what’s going on?” Renjun yelled at the two juniors.

Taeyong made a shushing noise. “Guys, no yelling, we can’t attract attention.”

“Let’s get them out of this room first,” Jaehyun said, kicking the alien’s body out of the way. Jaemin and Jeno stepped out with him, the other’s soon heading out. “We have to think of something.”

“We’re a long way from the office, but we can’t run because they’ll hear us,” Taeyong reminded him. 

“Do you make a run for it?” Jaehyun suggested.

Taeyong sucked in a breath. “Let’s do it.”   
  


  
***

  
  


Soonyoung and Jihoon led Kun and Xiaojun to the parking lot, planning to bring the car around to the front. They were gonna have to make multiple trips to take the boys home, but it was better than leaving them here at the school. 

They made their way around the school, thankfully not getting caught. Xiaojun was feeling a bit more energetic, so that was a plus, and he could walk now. Kun had a feeling Xiaojun might have a concussion, but they had to get him out of here first. 

Soonyoung pointed out where the rental car, so they made a run into the open. Soonyoung quickly unlocked the doors, so all of them got in, with Jihoon in the passenger seat and Kun and Xiaojun at the back. 

Problem was, when he put the key into the ignition, the car wouldn’t start. 

“Fuck it, not now!!” Soonyoung yelled, turning the key over and over again to turn on the car, but to no avail. 

“What’s wrong, why isn’t it starting??” Jihoon asked him. 

“I don’t know, it’s a rental, they’re shouldn’t be a need for anything!” Soonyoung noticed a light blinking on the display, so he threw opened his door and inspected underneath the car. “Goddammit!”

Jihoon unbuckled and seat belt and got out, bending down to see Soonyoun. “What’s wron- oh.”

There was a huge puddle underneath the car. 

“They cut the goddamn oil and gasoline!!” Soonyoung yelled. “We’re stuck.” 

“There’s other car’s here, maybe one of the students here can-” Jihoon walked over to a nearby car, a silver van. There was a puddle on the ground, too. “Uh, Soonyoung, we got a problem-”

“Do we head back to the school?” Kun asked, opening his door.

Soonyoung got up from the ground, ignoring the new oil and gasoline stains on his clothes. “We’re not safe outside, we have to go back in.”

“Uh, Soonyoung, if we go, we have to run,” Jihoon said, pointing to the distance. 

Soonyoung let out a groan. “How many of these fuckers are there?!?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i hear english music at night cause im scared of using my spotify at night since i stay up all night, and spotify is for kpop so i'm here hearing carly rae jepsen for the 30th time tonight after hearing usher and taio cruz and t-pain, what has my life become
> 
> yall these next chapters... *cue haechan as michael jackson* hihihi


	10. All these Classrooms and No Learning

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so im writing this specific [REDACTED] {SHIP} scene which i have at the end of the word document to not lose the idea, and im writing this chapter under the chap 10 header, right, so there's this space between. well, i had a dream where me and mark lee were hanging out and i had this doc opened so he opens the laptop to write some lyrics and he's writing in the blank space between so he can't read the words and i wake up with an anxiety attack and yeah that was my morning

For the 130th time, Mark threw the ball on the floor, which bounced against the wall and came back to him. 

For the 131st time, Mark threw the ball on the floor, which bounced against the wall and came back to him. 

For the 132nd time, Mark threw the ball on the floor, which bounced against the wall and-

“Can you stop playing with Mr. Park’s ball that you found,” Haechan said, lifting his head from the floor where he was lying down. “You’re giving me anxiety.”

“There’s a first to everything,” Mark said. For the 133rd time, Mark threw the ball on the floor, which bounced against the-

It did  _ not  _ bounce against the wall, as there was a slight tremble. 

“Great, no WiFi, not light, a creepy person outside and NOW an earthquake??” Haechan yelled, getting off the ground and walking towards the door. “You know what? Thank you Mark for being the best friend ever but I’d rather die sooner than later, buh by-”

“Are you fucking stupid??” Mark screamed at his crush, pulling him away from the door. The creepy person must have heard them since he continued to pound faster on the door. “Doesn’t he have anything else to pound on?”

“That sounded  _ really  _ dirty coming out of your mouth,” Donghyuck said. 

“Sh-shut up, you know that’s not what I meant.” Mark reached behind his neck to scratch it, feeling his cheeks get red. “I can’t believe you were about to die.”

“It’s called being  _ dramatic  _ Mark, you know I would never leave you.” Haechan sat down on the floor again. “I want to go hom- actually, I want to go to your home, now we won’t have your sleepover.”

Mark took off his hoodie, taking out the long-forgotten candy bars and setting them on the desk before lying on the floor next to Haechan, putting his arm below the latter’s head. “We can still have a sleepover, just no mac and cheese.”

Haechan set his head on Mark’s arm, the two of them facing each other. “I don’t know, Mark, mac and cheese is kind of a deal breaker.”

“True, true.” Mark put his hoodie on top of them, the two scooting in closer so that they could fit, practically hugging at this point. “We’ll just ask the police tomorrow when they come if they can bring us some.”

“Sounds good to me,” Haechan said, staring into Mark’s eyes, neither saying anything as being in each other’s presence was enough.

  
  


***

  
  


“It’s going to take a miracle now for me to see Jungwoo,” Lucas said, sighing.

“Don’t be so dramatic,” Ten said, an idea popping in his head. “Look, if Jungwoo comes in the next five minutes, I’ll buy you a giant cake from that one Chinese bakery, if he doesn’t _ , you _ buy me one.”

Lucas nodded. “Deal-”

They heard knocking on the door, with Johnny and Taeil shouting to open up. 

“How do I know you’re not the police?!” Ten yelled over the knocking. 

“Because I love you!!”

“Good enough.” Ten opened the door, with Johnny, Taeil, Yuta, Doyoung and- “Jungwoo, why would you do this to m- YOUR FACE-” 

“HA! You owe me a cake now!” Lucas yelled at Ten, who was letting the others come in. “He said I wouldn’t be able to see Jungwo- JUNGWOO YOUR FACE-” 

Ten locked the door after they got in the room. “Okay, what are you guys doing here and is Xiaojun okay and Jungwoo, what happened to you?”

“Yeah, about that-”

“There’s two adults from the US and they say there are aliens here,” Taeil finished. 

Silence.

“Oh, I’m having that dream again,” Yangyang said, getting in a runner’s stance. “Need to break the window to wake-”

“WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU LITERALLY ON??” Ten yelled, pulling Yangyang from the floor. “Yangyang, you  _ need  _ to tell us what drugs you are on!!”

“Did you not just hear me?? There are aliens outside trying to kill us!!” Taeil yelled again. 

“Makes sense, lights go out and suddenly there’s aliens,” Si Cheng said, sighing. “Let’s just go home-”

“ _ No one  _ is going home right now, Johnny, why the fuck are you guys pranking us right now, it’s not the time-”

“Ten-Ten hey,” Johnny grabbed Ten’s arms to stop them from moving. “Taeil said he’ll explain it.”

“I went with Jaehyun and Taeyong to give Xiaojun O blood and there were two men breaking down the nurse’s door with their bare hands, and when we stabbed them, there was green liquid coming out of them,” Taeil said in one breath. “And there’s more of them everywhere, I think.” 

“Taeil says they work for NASA,” Johnny explained. “Remember, the astronauts from the US? They work for them.”

“I’m going to pretend this is a huge prank but okay.” Ten sat down on the chair. “So why are you guys here?”

“We all have to meet at the office to go home,” Taeil explained. “And go to the nurses offices."

Lucas pulled the first aid kit from the wall, not even removing the screws first. “Jungwoo, come here, I’ll clean you-”

“Literally how the fuck did you do that-”

“Yuta, shut up and leave me alone.”

“GUYS!” Doyoung shushed the group. “We have to go. Don’t make noise.”

“Well, we’re dead,” Si Cheng muttered to himself. “You got Hendery and Yangyang here.”

“Okay,  _ excuse  _ me, since you’re so high and mighty, we’ll leave you here,” Hendery said, pulling Yangyang with him to leave. “Bye guys-”

Johnny blocked the door. “No one’s leaving until we have a plan.”

“Yeah, they’re not going to listen to you at that,” Ten reminded him.

“Shouldn’t we get weapons?” Lucas said, throwing the used wipes that he used to clean the blood off Jungwoo’s face into the wastebasket. “The kitchen has a lot of knives and the gym has bats.” 

“That may have been the smartest thing you’ve said all day,” Ten told him. 

“So we split into two groups, one to the cafeteria, one to the gym,” Taeil stated. 

“Taeil, bad things always happen in movies and books when the group splits!” Yuta argued. 

Johnny rolled his eyes. “We are not in a story, Yuta.”

Yangyang escaped from Hendery’s grip and picked up a chair. “If two of you fuck then it’s a fanfic.”

“If this were a fanfic, I would like it to have a major character death tag and for that to be you.”   
  


  
***

  
  


Jaehyun and Taeyong ran through the hallways with the five Dream unit members, with Jaehyun looking around the corner of the next hallway before saying they can go. 

No one dared to say a word; Jaehyun used hand signals for if and when they were going, stopping them if he suspected something. It went on for a while, and Jaehyun had stopped them when he saw two men standing at the end of one hallway, when Jaemin moved too fast from Renjun, causing him to fall on the floor with a thud. 

The men heard it, now coming their way. 

Taeyong pulled Jeno towards him, gesturing for the others to come over quickly. “Guys, in here,” he mouthed, fumbling for the keys he had in his pocket before opening the closest door towards them, the classroom for the Biology class. 

He unlocked the room and the seven quickly entered inside, Jaehyun closing it behind them as softly as he could. “Taeyong, you guys have to hide,” he whispered. 

Taeyong shook his head. “Don’t think you’re going after them.” 

“You can’t stop me.” Jaehyun grabbed the keys from Taeyong and went to the door in the room that led to the conjoined one. In the school, two science classrooms would often share a room in between where they would store supplies, only accessible from the two classroom doors. 

He unlocked it and gestured to them to go inside. “You guys stay in here,” he said, pulling the fire extinguisher near the eye wash station. “I’ll distract them.” 

“Jaehyun, you can’t do that-”

“Taeyong.” Against his better judgement, Jaehyun pressed a kiss on Taeyong’s forehead. “Think of them.”

“Can you guys stop with the romance, you’re acting like we’re going to die.” Renjun took the fire extinguisher from Jaehyun and ushered them inside, closing the door and locking it as soon as they heard the men banging the main classroom door. 

The seven of them, now crammed in the conjoined room, froze when they heard the door from outside being torn apart. 

In the center of the room, there was a big counter with sinks that was piled with an array of supplies for the class. On the other end on the bottom, there was a hidden entrance underneath where teachers often put tubs of contents so that they don’t disturbed space. 

And that’s exactly where they went to hide. 

Renjun hastily took out the tubs, pushing them across the floor when they already heard pounding outside. “In here,” he mouthed to Jeno and Jaemin, pushing them inside. Jisung and Chen Le soon followed suit.

In the front was Jaehyun, Renjun, and Taeyong, the latter who tried to pull the tubs closer to them so that they weren’t in view. That’s when they heard the door get broken into. 

Taeyong held Renjun in his arms, covering his mouth, as Jaehyun took the fire extinguisher from him again and held it, ready to aim it. 

No one dared to speak a word as they heard poundings on the door, eventually getting broken down. 

They heard footsteps enter the room, slowly, for a long time, until they decided to bust down the other door to enter the other classroom. 

Five minutes must have passed but yet it felt like hours, with everyone holding their breath. Taeyong could feel Renjun’s tears falling down his face, and Jisung behind him was twitching a lot. Jaehyun had a calm expression, but beads of sweat were on his forehead, his veins on his neck popping out. 

They eventually heard the footsteps getting fainter and soon gone, but they stayed in that position for a few more minutes until the coast was clear. 

“I think they’re gone,” Taeyong mouthed to Jaehyun, who nodded before crawling his way out of the hidden spot. 

They helped the other boys get out one by one, since the space was small and they had to bend their heads to fit. Especially Jisung, who was the tallest one present, so when he got out, he tried to stretch as much as he could, but accidentally tripped on a tub and fell back, knocking down metal dissecting trays off the table. 

The metal hit the ground hard, causing a loud disturbance, and apparently an alien must have stayed behind in a classroom, since it came rushing into the storage room. 

Jeno stood in front of Jisung as the alien rammed into him, choking Jeno on the wall. Jaehyun immediately sprayed the fire extinguisher at the alien’s eyes, causing it to screech demonic-like sounds and wail its arms around, grabbing Chen Le and his arm, the boy yelping in surprise. 

Taeyong tried to pull Chen Le from the alien, when they heard a pop, meaning Chen Le dislocated his arm. Jisung had gotten up again and held the alien in a choke hold position, while it tried to scratch Jeno in front of him. 

Jaemin saw a bottle on the counter, grabbed it and opened it. “Guys, stay back, don’t let this get on you!” 

Jaehyun held the alien’s arms above him and pinned it to the wall while Jisung held its waist in place, Renjun holding its feet together. Jaemin poured the contents on the alien, trying to not spill it on his friends. 

The alien withered around, screaming its unintelligible sounds, and must have died, since it was now slowly slouching on the wall, not moving around anymore. 

Jisung let out a shriek when some of the liquid got on his arm. “THIS BURNS!!!”

“Jisung the eyewash, NOW!” Jaehyun pulled him back into the classroom and turned on the eyewash station, water immediately falling down over him. 

“Oh, god, it’s so strong-” Renjun started coughing, his eyes welling up with tears. “I need my inhaler-”

“Jaemin, what did you pour on it?” Jeno asked, pulling Renjun away from the dead creature. “Renjun, where’s your inhaler?”

“The bottle said sulfuric acid,” Jaemin admitted. “Guys I’m so sorry-”

“Don’t worry about it,” Chen Le muttered. “A twisted arm is better than a dead person-”

Jaehyun came back with Jisung, the two soaking wet and shirtless. Jisung had their shirts pressed on the burns on his arm. “We really need to get out of here.”

“Guys, Renjun really needs his inhaler!” Jeno shouted, patting Renjun on his back, who was now making choking sounds. “His asthma is triggered!”

Taeyong ran out to the classroom, opening cabinets. “There’s supposed to be one in science classrooms for emergencies!” he shouted. In one drawer, he found it and pulled it out, running towards Renjun and Jeno. “Here, here it is.”

Jeno took it from Taeyong and gave it to Renjun, who took a few inhales, eventually calming down. 

Jaehyun pulled the first aid kit from the wall and opened it next to Jisung. “Jaemin, there should be a manual about the chemicals, look for sulfuric acid, there should be a section on how to take care of injuries.

“It’s suppose to be corrosive,” Jeno recalled. He helped Renjun get back up on his feet, patting his back some more. “Vapors are dangerous, Renjun, are you okay?”

Renjun wiped away the tears in his eyes. “Yeah, I’m fine, I just want some fresh air.”

“Taeyong, my wrist hurts,” Chen Le cried out, forming some tears of his own. “And m-my arm-”

Taeyong grabbed some bandages from the first aid kit and wrapped it tightly on Chen Le’s wrist, the latter crying out. “We’ll get you a doctor when we get out of here, okay? Jeno, help me, we have to pop his arm back in place-”

“Isn’t that supposed to hu-” Jeno started saying, getting hushed by Taeyong. “Okay, I’ll help.”

“Jaehyun, here it says you have to wash it thoroughly for 15 minutes in warm water and with soap and water,” Jaemin said, reading from the manual that he had found hanging on the wall. 

Jaehyun pulled Jisung towards the sink and turned it on full blast, ignoring the water splashing on them. “Keep it in the water, I’m going to find some soap.”

Jeno took off his jacket and put the sleeves in Chen Le’s mouth. “Here, bite down on this.”

“On the count of three, Jeno.” Taeyong and Jeno held firmly to Chen Le’s arm while Renjun covered his mouth. The last thing they needed was to make more noise. “One, two…”

Chen Le let out a muffled scream when Taeyong and Jeno put it back in place.

“You know, I think the sulfuric acid would be a good weapon,” Jisung said, arm still in the sink. “We should find more.”   
  


  
***

Jihoon, Soonyoung, Kun and Xiaojun ran back to the doors, Kun frantically scanning his ID and typing the electronic password before they scrambled in, making it barely in time.

All of the entrances in the school had two sets of double glass doors, so they were in the little room between the doors. They tried to catch their breath, ignoring the aliens pounding the door from outside. They were so thankful that they couldn’t break glass. 

Xiaojun collapsed on the floor, still not used to having energy.

“Fuck, Xiaojun.” Kun helped Xiaojun sit up, the latter struggling to breath. “Are you okay?”

After a few seconds gasping for air, Xiaojun said, “I’m going to let that dumb question slide since we’re literally in the face of death.”

Jihoon looked out the window and saw an alien in the distance with a brick. “Kun, quick, what’s the pass code?”

Kun handed him his card. “8543,” he said, carrying Xiaojun up in his arms. Xiaojun was still struggling to breath, and some blood was seeping through his bandages. “Fuck, your injuries are getting worse.”

Jihoon swiped the card and typed up the numbers, opening the door to let them in. “What are we supposed to do now?”

“The office is the most guarded place,” Kun said, getting inside with Xiaojun in his arms. “It has the nurse’s office, anyways.”

“This isn’t the same door we came out of,” Soonyoung said, ushering Jihoon in. They were now back inside the school in the hallway. “Which way is the office?”

“Supposed to be close, but…” Kun held Xiaojun up higher, his hands trembling. He wasn’t good at carrying weight, which is why he dragged Xiaojun earlier. “My keys are in this pocket, we should probably head into a classroom first.”

Jihoon felt Kun’s front pockets, taking out the set of keys. “Why do you even have keys and access to the double doors?” Jihoon asked him. That’s not how things worked in America. 

“Vice president,” Kun explained. “But I really don’t do anything. Taeyong does the bulk of the work. Vice presidents don’t have many responsibilities.”

“Ooh, student government, that was great,” Soonyoung said. “I was treasurer.”

“He somehow got a lot of money for prom,” Jihoon agreed.

Soonyoung frowned. “You went to prom?”

Jihoon scoffed. “No. They passed videos of it during homeroom the Monday afterwards.” He unlocked the closest classroom near them. “I never went to a school dance.”

“You missed out. Senior prom really was the shit.” To Xiaojun and Kun, he said, “We got away with sneaking alcohol, prom date gave the best head, and my best friend was prom king.”

Jihoon ran his hand through his hair. “Your best friend is the Mexican kid, right?”

Soonyoung’s face got red. “I-I mean, he  _ was _ .” He pushed Kun into the room, who was still holding Xiaojun. “We have to hurry and not make noise.”

Kun set down Xiaojun on a desk. They were in the general art classroom., so the desks were bigger and more spread out. 

The first aid kit was near the teacher’s desk (bless schools for having one in every classroom.) He took it back to where Xiaojun was and opened it while stealing a glance at Jihoon, who was keeping a neutral expression. He looked… sad, though.

“I thought you guys were twenty-six?” he asked, taking out the alcohol as Xiaojun unwrapped the dirty bandages from his arms. “How long have you known each other?”

“Almost two decades,” Jihoon said, chewing his bottom lip. 

“He helped me settle in when I arrived at the orphanage,” Soonyoung explained. “Birth giver abandoned me.”

Kun frowned. “Wait, that long? Shouldn’t you two be best friends?"

“We are best friends,” Soonyoung interrupted him, getting defensive. “Nothing’s changing that.”

Kun shrugged. They were just two adults helping him avoid some aliens, he shouldn’t get into their personal lives. “Whatever you say.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> oh HO HO  
also im going to be updating my stories VERY regularly so beware. who knows, i might have another chap in 3 days. stay alert  
P.S user Tae_Jongkey_Kai was watching the superm concert earlier and though Mark said "make your ass clap" when he said hands XD sorry bud for exposing you, there can only be one Jongkey


	11. Knives are on the School Supply List

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> chen had his baby a few hours ago, monsta x teasers, dream comeback, wonho profile, taemin teaser thing, one ok rock is streaming one of their concerts NOW have fun guys!!

Mark and Haechan couldn’t sleep because of the pounding. 

“Jesus Christ, how is their arm not tired?” Haechan yelled, getting off of Mark’s arm to stand next to the door. Mark was kind of glad, since his arm was losing circulation, bu-but it was Haechan…

“Don’t you do open the door,” Mark warned him. 

“We haven’t even been on the ground for like five minutes.” Haechan pushed a desk next to the door, stacking a chair above it. “Maybe we can attack him from above.” 

Mark got up from the ground. “What do you mean attack him?”

Haechan went to the counter, where Mr. Park kept copies of the textbooks used in class, thick hardcovers that surely cost two hundred dollars each only for you to read three pages. Grabbing a handful each time, he stacked them on top of the chair above the desk. “Mark, the ceiling tiles.” 

The school has ceiling tiles from above, where you could push them up or even take them off. Some teachers would let their students paint on them, while others would push them up slightly to hang stuff from the borders. 

“What about the ceiling tiles?” Mark asked, watching Haechan continuing to stack textbooks. It was getting pretty high now. 

“If you push it upwards, you can see everything above,” Haechan explained. He got on the desk, aligning the textbooks better so that they don’t wobble. “And if I’m above, I can lift that tile from here, and see what’s going on from above there.” 

Mark held onto the stack of books with one hand, helping Haechan get up with the other one. “Don’t make noise, you don’t want him to notice you staring at him.”

“I want to drop something on his head, but…” Haechan squeezed Mark’s hand and lifted his leg on the top of the books, heaving himself to the top. The books wobbled a bit, but Mark helped him stay in place. “Man, this is  _ really  _ unstable.” 

Haechan held his hands out, trying to maintain balance. “This is harder than what it looks like in the movies.”

“Stay there.” Mark grabbed the flashlight (which they had standing up to illuminate the entire room) and headed towards the locked cubicles, unlocking them with the pin. “Mr. Park must have  _ something  _ dangerous in this room.”

“That’s usually his jokes.” Haechan pushed up on the ceiling, moving the tile to the side. “They make me want to die.”

Mark opened the door of the cubby and shined the flashlight around, trying to dig through some stuff. “All I found is some rubbing alcohol.” 

“The fire extinguisher would be more useful.” Mark couldn’t see, but he was pretty sure Donghyuck rolled his eyes. “Can you at least try to find another flashlight? I can’t see over here.”

Mark grabbed the globe off of Mr. Park’s desk and handed it to Haechan, shining the light on him again. “This should do  _ some  _ brain damage.”

“Starting to think someone dropped one on me when I was a child,” Haechan muttered. He grabbed the globe with one hand and set it inside the ceiling, trying to find the tile that would be in the hallway. “No noise, Mark.”

Mark made a motion of zipping his lips shut, and that’s when Haechan set his plan in action. 

He lifted the tile slowly, trying to not make any noise. There, he could see the blank-faced man, continuing to pound on the metal door. They must not have any brains since he clearly couldn’t tell that the metal door wasn’t going to budge. 

Kind of reminded him of Mark. Donghyuck, for a few years, thought that Mark was dense and oblivious to notice Haechan’s feelings for him, but Haechan found out it was because it wasn’t mutual, so…

Eh, Mark was a really dense person. Jisung has gotten angry with him multiple times over how Mark just doesn’t get the joke. Pretty infuriating to watch. 

Haechan grabbed the globe carefully, ready to launch it at the man’s face. He ruined karaoke night, goddammit, and was trying to kill them, so he deserved to get an ass whooping. 

However, Mark suddenly got the urge to sneeze, and he did, covering his face with his arm out of habit. He let go of Haechan’s legs and bump into him, causing Donghyuck to lose his balance. 

Haechan let go of the globe, which fell a few feet of the man. The man saw the commotion from above and started shrieking at him, jumping an impossible height to grab a hold of Donghyuck’s neck and pulling him forward. 

Haechan started choking, arms trying to pry the man off him, his legs falling off of the textbooks and was now only being held up by the man from the other side of the wall. 

“HAECHAN!!” Mark dropped the flashlight and wrapped his hands around Haechan’s torse and tried to pull him down, hearing the other struggling to breath. 

_ No, please don’t let anything happen to him,  _ please  _ don’t let anything happen to him, not his best friend, not Haechan- _

It was only making it worse, though. Desperate, Mark looked around and saw the textbooks, handing one to Haechan. “Haechan, just chuck him with this, please!”

Haechan struggled to grab the book, his legs kicking the wall as he tried to push himself off the man’s embrace. Somehow, he managed to get ahold of it and hit the guy’s head with it, the latter letting go of his neck. 

Mark wrapped his hands around Haechan’s waist again before the latter fell, falling on Mark as they tumbled down to the floor. 

They stayed in that position for about a minute, Donghyuck gasping for air and Mark calming him down, rubbing the sore spots on Haechan’s neck with one hand as his other held Haechan firmly tight to his chest. 

They continued to hear more pounding outside. 

  
  


***

The Dream unit members were sitting on the desk tables while Jaehyun and Taeyong drew on the white board, forming a plan. 

“We all promised to meet at the main office.” Jaehyun drew a map of the school on the whiteboard as quickly as he could, pinpointing certain locations. “This is the classroom where the WayV unit is…” he circled a little square that he had drawn. “This is the 127 unit…” he circled two more. “And here is where we are. As far as we known, Xiaojun and Kun plus those two NASA people are in the office, right here, and Mark’s and Haechan’s whereabouts are unknown.”

“Will they be okay?” Jeno asked. 

“Haechan will annoy the aliens to death, I’m sure we’re fine.” Jaehyun drew arrows in the drawn hallways. “Besides, he has Mark with him.”

“They  _ are  _ a really lovely couple,” Taeyong muttered. 

“Oh, if the apocalypse doesn’t make Mark man up, I don’t know what will.” Jaehyun put the cap on the marker and pointed at the drawing. “So we are here right now, and we’re going to the office. The other two units should be there. Jaemin, you got the sulfuric acid, right?”

Jaemin nodded, setting two new bottles of the chemical on the counter in front of the whiteboard. 

“Okay, we all have to make sure not to spill it.” Jaehyun reached underneath the counter and pulled out two boxes, setting them on the counter. “Everyone will wrap these bandages tightly around your arm, regardless of injury or not. We shouldn’t have any bare skin.” 

“You and Jisung don’t have shirts, though,” Taeyong pointed out. “And there’s no more jackets.”

Jaehyun held out his hand. “Taeyong, can I see your master keys for a minute?”

Confused, Taeyong reached into his pocket and took them out, handing them to Jaehyun. “What for?”

“Do you know whose classroom we just destroyed?” Jaehyun reminded him. 

“Uh… no…”

“This is Mr. Kim’s classroom.”

“... Jaehyun, there’s like ten Mr. Kim’s in this school.”

“Kim  _ Kibum _ ,” Jaehyun told him. 

Taeyong shrugged. “What about it?”

Jaehyun walked towards one of the floor-length cabinets in the room, opening it with the keys. He opened the door and revealed there to be hanging a few shirts and jackets. “That man is always prepared for a fashion emergency.”

“All his clothes are ugly, though,” Renjun piped up. 

“Ugly clothes are better than no clothes,” Jisung muttered, walking to the cabinets and pulling out a black leather jacket. “No idea why he keeps this here, but I’m going to look bad ass in it.”

“Damn it, I was going to wear that,” Jaehyun said. He pulled out a denim jacket. “These are actually some pretty cool clothes, Renjun, you have no idea what you’re talking about."

Renjun rolled his eyes. “Rather die than wear that.”

“Door’s right over there,” Jisung pointed, grabbing a Gucci shirt and slipping it over his head, jacket following suit. “Why does he have this in here?”

“Prada is better than Gucci,” Chen Le muttered. 

Jaehyun pulled out a Reebok's shirt and put it on, the denim jacket following afterwards. “Jeno, come here, you don’t have a jacket.”

He tossed him a hoodie to which Jeno put on, despite being too big for it.

“There should still be a safer way of launching the acid at them without it splashing,” Jaemin suggested. 

Chen Le got out of his desk, running towards the back. “We can use the pipettes! The gigantic ones with the 2000 millimetres or whatever.”

“Don’t you mean  _micro-liters_?” Jisung asked. 

Chen Le took the box that was next to the sink with his one good hand and placed it on the counter, sticking his tongue out. “I don’t need a science lesson right now, we’re after school.”

“And about to die,” Renjun whispered, rolling his eyes again.

Jisung mocked a gasp. “Excuse me, Chen Le, I am  _ injured _ .” He pulled up the jacket sleeves to reveal the tremendous amount of bandages wrapped around his forearm. “I could get  _ cancer  _ and die in this exact minute-”

“Can you guys stop talking about death for a minute?” Taeyong interrupted. “We don’t need that mentality right now, we just need to focus on going to the office and going home.” 

“You’re ruining the purpose of Gen Z,” Renjun argued. “Boomer.”

“I am not a-”

“Taeyong.” Jaehyun covered Taeyong’s mouth with his hand and led him back to the front of the room. “No yelling. Guys,” he turned back to the Dream unit members. “Do you want the others here to die?” 

“NOT JENO!” Renjun yelled, wrapping his arms around said Jeno. “You have to stay alive, mister,” Renjun told him. 

Taeyong uncapped the marker that Jaehyun had earlier and started writing a checklist on the board. “We’re going to need these supplies.”   
  


  
***

“I can’t  _ believe  _ you split everyone into two groups,” Ten muttered, following Johnny as he held his hand. 

“Technically, I did  _ not,  _ since they’re like thirty feet behind us.” Johnny glanced behind them, where Doyoung, Si Cheng, Yuta, Hendery, and Yangyang stayed behind. 

They had decided to stay together, since there was strength in numbers. However, what people  _ won’t  _ tell you was that it was also  _ loudness  _ in numbers, so if they maintained some distance between them, everything would be good. 

Although, to be fair, the loud ones were quiet for once. Paranoia would do that to you. 

“I’m really glad the cafeteria is on the way to the office,” Jungwoo said (his normal voice was already quiet, so at least they knew  _ he  _ was going to survive. Yangyang and Hendery? Not much.)

“Isn’t it weird that all the unit meetings were on the first floor today?” Taeil asked them. “At least there’s no running down the stairs and shit.”

Johnny and Lucas looked at each, having the same idea. 

“What if-”

“-we go upstairs-”

“-run around free-”

“AND JUST GET DOWN FROM THE WINDOWS?!” They both shouted at each other.

Taeil clasped both his hands on their mouths. “Are you trying to get us fucking killed??” he harshly whispered at them.

Johnny pried his hands off him. “On the contrary, Taeil, we’re trying to save us.”

“Johnny, no offense, but that idea isn’t going to work!” Ten whisper-yelled at him. “How do we know they’re not upstairs?”

“Ah, come on, why would they be upstairs?” Johnny asked him. “I’m sure the plan would work.” 

“Are you  _ sure _ ?” Taeil asked. “It’s already a lot of work, and what if there’s more of them outside-”

“Then we can just look out the windows and check,” Lucas suggested. “Better safe than sorry-"

“Guys.” They turned around to see Doyoung. “Why did you guys stop, now what’s going on?”

“These two have the bright idea to go upstairs and jump out the windows instead,” Taeil explained. 

Doyoung pondered in thought. “That might work-"

“Doyoung! Are you fucking insane? How can you agree with these idiots?”

“Uh, GUYS!” they heard Si Cheng yelled, who was pointing at two men who were near the end of the hallway. “What’s the plan, hit or run-”

“Yeah, I’M RUNNING-”

“YANGYANG, NO-”

Yangyang tried to run but was pulled back by an angry Hendery, causing them to both topple on the floor. It must have angered the two aliens, who were now sprinting their way.

“I’M TIRED OF THESE MOTHERFUCKERS!!” Yuta yelled, rolling his sleeves up before charging headfirst towards the men, who punched him, causing him to practically fly a good few meters away and landed back on the group’s feet, landing harshly on the floor. 

Everyone started shouting obscenities and random shit in their native languages, while Johnny and Lucas ran towards the men, wrapping their hands around the aliens’ neck, who reciprocated the action, now the four in a battle for air.

“Johnny!!” Ten went behind the alien and pulled him away from his boyfriend. 

Meanwhile, Lucas was now in a wrestling match with the other, who then threw him against the locker. 

“HENDERY, GIVE ME THE GODDAMN POCKET KNIFE!” Doyoung yelled, searching Hendery’s pockets who was still on the ground with Yangyang, the two rubbing the sore spots on their heads.    
  
Si Cheng was pulling an unconscious Yuta away from the commotion, Jungwoo doing the same to Lucas, and Taeil launching at the alien who pushed Lucas, punching them as hard as he could. 

Doyoung went to Ten and Johnny first. “Guys, I’m going to slit his throat, be careful-”

“Deal with the other one,” Ten said, before snapping the alien's neck.

Johnny fell to the ground, rubbing his sore neck, while Doyoung continuously stabbed the other alien from behind, the green ooze spilling everywhere. 

Everyone paused to take a deep breath, except an unconscious Yuta, until they saw three more men appear at the end of the hallway. 

“Not this shit again,” Lucas muttered, feeling a bump on the back of his head starting to form. 

Doyoung wiped the pocket knife on his jeans. “Looks like we have to teach these a lesson, too.”   
  
  
***

“There you go,” Kun said, wrapping the last bandages on Xiaojun. 

Xiaojun looked like he  _ really  _ wanted to sleep; his eyes were droopy, he would yawn every minute, and he could barely sit up straight. 

He nodded towards the latter. “Thanks, Kun.”

Meanwhile, Soonyoung and Jihoon were talking to each other in English, giving the two students (who they were  _ pretty  _ sure are a couple) some privacy. 

“Look,  _ clearly  _ these aliens have some type of shape shifting ability,” Soonyoung explained. “Although why they all have the same mold is really creepy.”

“Yeah, but their bodies adapted to how a human body works if you think about it,” Jihoon said. “Like, where those other students injured them is  _ exactly  _ how you would injure a body, so maybe they  _ are  _ human?”

“How would you explain the green liquid, though.”

“Yeah, didn’t think of that.”

Silence. 

They didn’t speak to each other for a bit, instead, focused on how Kun and Xiaojun were interacting. Kun had just grabbed a disposable cup from the counter and filled it with water from the sick, offering it to Xiaojun who took a few sips. 

Kun was whispering something, ruffling Xiaojun’s hair while the latter blushed. He offered the cup of water to Kun, who hesitatingly grabbed it before taking some sips of his own. 

“Do you remember my first few days in the orphanage?” Soonyoung asked Jihoon. “In our shared room, how I would cry instead of sleeping, and you would tell me different stories.”

Jihoon nodded. “Yeah, neither would get any sleep.”

“Yeah, I kept asking questions about everything.” Soonyoung laughed. “There was the alien story that you would tell me.”

Jihoon smiled a little at the memory. “The one where they were abducted and forced to eat mayo?”

“I was honestly scared shitless that I would be forced to eat mayo,” Soonyoung admitted. “Although now that scenario is a thousand times better than the one were are in now.”

“All the stories that I made were pretty stupid,” Jihoon admitted. “Like the aliens, the president, mafias, getting- uh, well, you know.”

“I thought they were cool,” Soonyoung said. “They definitely help me feel better.”

Jihoon wrapped his arms around himself. “If you say so.”   
  


***

Haechan got off of Mark after a few minutes, feeling a bit better.

“Haechan, I’m  _ so  _ sorry, I didn’t mean to sneeze,” Mark rambled until Haechan put his hand over Mark’s mouth. 

“Please don’t start with your apologies, it’s okay, it was an accident.” Haechan smiled at him, and god, did Mark feel his heart lurch out of his chest. “I’m alive, aren’t I?”

“Only you can remain this optimistic when you were literally being choked to death a few minutes ago,” Mark said. 

“Better than Renjun. Knowing him, he’s made at least two death comments by now.”

Mark nodded, agreeing with Haechan’s words, but then he frowned. “How do you think they’re doing?”

Haechan shrugged. “This serial killer is obsessed with us, they probably just went home."

“Yeah, hopefully.” 

They sat there for a while, the forgotten flashlight light making a soft glow, pointed towards one of the walls. It was still pretty dark, but Mark could still see Haechan’s face. 

“I really did think I lost you,” Mark whispered. 

“Yeah, my idea was kind of stupid,” Haechan admitted. 

For a minute, Mark  _ did  _ think that he was going to lose his best friend. They were stuck here for who knows how long, and because of his stupid mistake, his friend could of lost his life. 

He had to tell him now. He didn’t know how much time he had left with Haechan. 

Mark’s heart was beating really fast now, almost having a feeling of being choked himself. The room had been getting hot for a while now, but now it was  _ really  _ making him sweat. 

… “Donghyuck?”

“Uh, yeah?”

_ Don’t do it, hoe, don’t do it- _ “I need to tell you something.”

Donghyuck shrugged. “Go ahead.”

_ No, no, no, you’re going to ruin everything that you have- _ “I just don’t want to ruin anything, I’m letting you know.”

Donghyuck frowned. “Uh… okay? Literally, Mark, tell me, what is it?”

_ Don’t do it, Mark, don’t do it, you don’t know if he feels- _

“I love you.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *_* FINALLY IM OFF TO STREAM DREAM GUYS
> 
> also! i have a tumblr, it's jongkey_krisho (but underneath it says chanyolo, i don't know which is which) and im going to make random memes for no reason. feel free to check it out


	12. We're All Idiots

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> warning: some sexual content in this chapter!!!!
> 
> ALSO WHY DID YALL TREND CANCEL TOM HOLLAND I THOUGHT HE DID SOMETHING BAD YALL GAVE ME A HEART ATTACK  
new twilight book, suho enlisting, nct teaser, uhhhh LUHAN KRIS AND TAO IN THE SAME SHOW YESSS BITCHES!

“I love you.”

Blame it on Mark to always say sentimental stuff during times like these.

“Of course you do, we’re best friends, we’re supposed to love each other,” Haechan said, rolling his eyes. 

“You know that that’s not what I’m talking about,” Mark argued. 

Now what could Mark possibly be talking about-

Wait. 

  
  
  
  


…..  _ What? _

No, there was  _ no  _ way that Mark…. Loved him in that way, right?

After… after  _ years  _ of being in love with his best friend, it can’t possibly be mutual, right?

_ Right? _

Haechan stared at Mark, trying to find any evidence that pointed to him lying. But as Haechan hated to admit it, he knew Mark pretty well, and the latter was looking genuine-

Bu-but does Mark not remember rejecting him? Why would he tell him this no-

No. Mark was his best friend. He wouldn’t play these games with him.

  
  
  


_ Would he? _

  
  
  


“Mark, stop joking around like that,” Haechan said, balling his fists. How dare Mark make fun of him in times like this? “It’s not funny.”

“I’m telling you the truth, Donghyuck!” Mark took a step forward, maintaining eye contact. Haechan’s heartbeat was increasingly at a rapid rate. Mark talking about love plus getting closer to him was a dangerous combination. 

“No it’s not and you know it,” Haechan argued with him. “I don’t appreciate you playing games like this with me, Mark, considering how you made it obvious that you didn’t return my feelings back.”

Mark frowned, confused. “What are you talking about?”

“My confession letter, Mark,” Haechan cried, clenching his fists harder as his eyes started getting watery. “Do you not remember that?”

Mark’s eyes widened. “That’s not true, the only time I’ve ever gotten a confession letter was the one last year where- oh.”

The confession letter. 

The one they fought over for. 

“Y-you wrote that?!” Mark asked, bewildered.

“I signed my name at the bottom, dumb ass!” Haechan yelled. “Stop trying to act like you didn’t know-”

“But it’s true!” Mark shouted back. “I lied to you back then when I said I read it!”

Haechan’s eyes widened. “You didn’t read it?” he whispered, drying his face by lifting up his shirt. 

Mark bit his lip, clenching his fists. “Donghyuck,” he said slowly, making eye contact with Haechan. “If I would have known you wrote it… I swear I would have read it.”

Haechan was crying, tears falling down his face. “It’s-it’s just you said you read it, and then, and then you said all those stuff and I thought-”

He started bawling, sobs filling his room as he covered his face with his hands, not bearing to look at Mark. 

Mark’s arms started trembling. He couldn’t believe it. His best friend, his  _ best friend  _ of all time, the Lee Donghyuck, aka Haechan, best person in existence…  _ wrote him a confession letter?  _ One that Mark didn’t read? 

If he was honest, the reason why he didn’t read it, despite Haechan persisting, was  _ because  _ he was in love with Haechan. He wasn’t going to read someone’s confession letter knowing damn well he was in love with his best friend. 

“Do you really like me back?” Mark whispered, reaching out to grab a strand of Haechan’s hair. 

Haechan aggressively nodded, looking at Mark through the spaces between his fingers. “I never stopped, despite how much I needed to.”

Mark reached out to cup Donghyuck’s cheek, wiping away a tear; Haechan’s face was awfully wet. “Me neither.”

And he brought their faces together, slowly, Haechan removing his hands from his own face, while Mark brought them closer, and he was finally able to taste those lips that he had been dreaming about forever. 

  
  
  


***   
  
  


“Okay, so now what are we going to do after this?” Jihoon asked Soonyoung, who was opening the door of the classroom to head out.

Soonyoung whipped out the carving knives he had stolen from the cabinets in the art room. “We stab any alien we see.”

“I mean, yeah, we kill all the aliens we see here, but then what?” Jihoon said. “Have they targeted other places in the city? Do they have any weaknesses?”

“My guess is they sense humans.” Soonyoung looked down the hallway, determining the coast to be clear. “The coordinates led us to the forest, so the closest location to them was here, where there are humans.”

Jihoon grabbed the other knife from Soonyoung. “So we’re just going to destroy their base or something?”

Soonyoung nodded. “Seems good to me.”

“Are you guys sure we can stay here?” They turned around to see Kun, who had a sleeping Xiaojun on his lap. “I mean, I know Xiaojun shouldn’t move, but…”

“You guys should  _ not  _ be exposed to any danger.” Soonyoung stepped in the hallway, Jihoon following behind him. “We’ll come back and get you guys UNLESS you get help, then you should go.”

Kun nodded. “Okay, I’ll stay here with Xiaojun. Please tell them not to get hurt, though, I know some of them will try and be stupid.”   
  


  
***

  
  


“You guys are so STUPID!” Doyoung yelled, cleaning the bloodied knife on his now-bloodied jeans. Well, not really bloodied, since it was green, but-

Although some of them were indeed injured. Lucas and Yuta had concussions, and one of the aliens managed to break Yangyang’s arm, so he was wearing a homemade cast for now by using his jacket. The rest got some scratches here and there, but nothing major. 

“Good thing is no one is dead, right?” Hendery said, laughing nervously.

“Bitch, we were ALMOST DEAD!!” Ten yelled before Johnny clamped his hand over his boyfriend’s mouth.

“Can we just leave already?” Yuta slurred, hand pressed against the back of his head. “I really want to sleep-”

“We’re dead,” Taeil muttered. 

“Let’s just go upstairs like our original plan!” Lucas yelled, his nine other classmates shushing him. “Oh, my bad.”

“Whoever wants to go upstairs and be idiots, go ahead,  _ I’m  _ going to the kitchen like how we planned.” Doyoung turned to march down the hallway, only to be pulled back by Taeil. 

“Now is  _ not  _ the time to separate,” he harshly whispered at the fuming Doyoung. “There’s strength in numbers.”

“If I die, I want you to hold me dramatically in your arms and state your love for me,” Johnny whispered to Ten. 

Ten punched his arm. “Stop acting like you’re going to die.”

That gave Johnny an idea. He took off his silver bracelet and twisted it a few times, getting on his knee. “Ten, promise me you’ll marry me if we don’t die-”

“Gay marriage is illegal in Korea,” Yuta said. 

“Bitch shut the FUCK up, you’re ruining the marriage proposal,” Johnny said. To Ten, he placed the wrapped-up bracelet on his boyfriend’s ring finger. “I would buy you a real ring, but we are in a life-or-death situation."

Doyoung rolled his eyes. “It’s just a death situation.”

“Uh, guys, there are ALIENS on the loose in the hallway-” Si Cheng reminded them. 

“Can y’all just LET ME PROPOSE ALREADY?!”

“Johnny, you know the answer is yes, dumb ass,” Ten said, grinning. “Although I do think we’re going to die.”

“Then we’ll die as fiances.” Johnny got up from the ground and grabbed Ten’s hands, bumping their foreheads together.

“Johnny, we are GOING TO DIE!” Taeil shouted, earning hushes from the others. 

“If only my phone worked, it would have been cute to record.” Jungwoo sighed. 

“‘Kay, anyone else has some last love confessions or some shit?” Taeil announced to the whole group.

Yuta grabbed Si Cheng’s arm and spun him around. “Can I kiss you?”

Si Cheng rolled his eyes, smiling. “It took you an alien apocalypse to confess?”

The two kissed, holding on to each other’s necks, trying to get closer to each other as much as possible. 

“IT WAS A HYPOTHETICAL QUESTION!!” Taeil yelled, Yuta and Si Cheng ignoring him as they continued kissing.

“Okay, if people here have a crush on someone else, you’re gonna have to wait for the next alien invasion, now CAN WE GET OUT OF THIS HALLWAY!??” Doyoung shouted. 

Hendery and Yangyang hugged each other, crying mockingly. “This is so romantic,” Hendery said, wiping a fake tear. 

“Should be a Studio Ghibli film,” Yangyang agreed. “Chittaphon out of Chittaphon.”

“I know who’s not invited to the wedding,” Ten muttered. “Kay, fine, let’s MOVE people, I need to survive if I want to get married-”

“Aren’t you guys in high school?” Lucas asked. 

“LUCAS WE ARE IN THE SAME GODDAMN SCHOOL-”   
  


***

Mark pressed his lips closer to Haechan, holding on to Haechan’s waist with the latter wrapping his arms around Mark’s neck. 

_ This is a dream, this is a dream- _

“Donghyuck,” Mark whispered in between kisses. “Don’t let go of me.”

Haechan rubbed their noses together, their foreheads touching. “Never,” he whispered, smashing their lips together again.

Mark pushed Haechan against the wall, despite not being able to see that well, the long-forgotten flashlight on the ground casting a small, soft glow in the room, the only source of light in the dark room.

Lies. Haechan was the only light in Mark’s life, the only one he needed. He loved having Haechan as his best friend, couldn’t get enough of them constantly hanging out, of their sleepovers, of them texting for hours and hours and hours, of them singing their hearts at to each other, of just watching Haechan laugh, smile, talk, sit in silence, sleep, sing, dance, just Haechan being Haechan, he loved it-

Their kissing got more intense as Mark touched Haechan’s back underneath his shirt, feeling the warm skin on his fingertips. He loved how Haechan’s skin was so sun kissed, so warm, he always got a tingling sensation whenever he touched it like now, and if anyone had a problem with tan skin, they could go FUCK OFF. 

He made his hands go higher, the room was getting so much hotter and stuffier, so he took a break from the kissing and lifted up his shirt, tossing it on the ground as he held Haechan again. He tried to reconnect his lips but Haechan let go of him, claiming he wanted to take his shirt off as well. 

Haechan took off his jacket and his shirt in one go, throwing it on the floor as well and grabbed Mark’s neck again, pulling him closer to continue making out with the latter. 

Mark started kissing Haechan’s neck, feeling his best friend gasp underneath him. “Mark, Mark- ah, ah…”

“Donghyuck,” Mark said, trailing more kisses down Haechan’s neck onto his chest. “I really love you.” 

“Me too, Mark,” Haechan sputtered, gasping as Mark held on to his waistband. “I love you, too.”   
  


  
***

  
  


“Jisung, literally what are you doing?” Renjun asked. 

Jisung, who tore off a strip of his shirt from the bottom, tied it around his forehead. “I’m injured, let me have fun.”

“Bitch, I’m injured too and you don’t see me acting stupid!” Renjun grabbed the alcohol bottles and stuff it in the bag he had grabbed, along with some lighters. “I’m gonna get lung cancer.”

“Are you sure everyone is okay?” Jeno asked Jaehyun for the twelfth time. 

Jaehyun pat Jeno’s back. “Don’t worry buddy, every dumb ass has at least one smart person with them.”

“Remember Jeno, Mark and Haechan are probably fucking,” Renjun reminded him.

“They never did come back with the candy,” Chen Le said, pouting. He tried to cross his arms, but since his wrist was injured, it didn’t quite work out. 

Taeyong swung his bag over his shoulder and stood in front of the doorway. The aliens had broken down the door, after all. “Are we ready to go?”

“I just want to go home,” Jaemin whined, standing behind Taeyong, everyone following suit. 

Taeyong stepped into the hallway, looking around. A giant pipette with sulfuric acid in one hand, a pocket knife in the other. The plan was to inject acid in the aliens’ eyes, distracting them so that they could stab them, effectively killing them. Since Renjun couldn’t handle dealing with the acid, he had alcohol to burn them with fire just in case. 

“So we head straight to the office,” Jaehyun reminded the group, standing next to Taeyong. “If the others aren’t there yet, we’ll go look for them.”

Taeyong nodded. “Sounds like a plan.”

They walked slowly down the hallway, everyone with their homemade weapons in hand. Some of them held their breaths, while Jisung was canonically taking large steps. 

“Jisung this isn’t an anime,” Jeno harshly whispered at him. 

“Shut up, I’m injured,” Jisung reminded him. 

“It was an accident!” Jaemin whispered yelled, Renjun clamping his hand over the latter’s mouth. 

_ We’re not going to survive at this rate _ , Jaehyun thought.

They took their time walking down the hallway, and when they turned to the right that’s when they saw it. 

There were dead bodies of the aliens lying on the ground, green liquid oozing out of them. Some had their neck twisted to the back, and there were dents on the lockers. 

“What the fuck happened here,” Jaehyun muttered. 

Renjun touched one of the bodies with his foot, not getting a response. “He’s meditating, guys-”

“Stop it with that meme!” Jisung wailed out.

Taeyong bent down to get a closer view to the injuries. “Who do you think did this?”

“Probably 127 or WayV,” Jaehyun suggested, walking farther down the hallway, looking around. “They look dead to me.”

“It’s good that there’s no red blood right?” Chen Le said, laughing nervously, hiding behind Jisung. 

“Let’s just find the others,’ Taeyong muttered, leading the group away from the chaos.   
  


  
***

“Soonyoung, I really don’t feel like this is safe,” Jihoon muttered, following his friend down the hallway. “We left those two kids behind."

“Then stay behind with them if you want,” Soonyoung stated firmly, continuing to walk down the hall. 

Jihoon grabbed onto his friend’s sleeve, pulling Soonyoung back. “But I can’t let you go find the others alone.”

“So what, you suggest we take those two with us?” Soonyoung asked. 

Jihoon pulled away, ashamed. “Sorry.”

Soonyoung sigh, grabbing hold of Jihoon’s hand, pulling him closer. “Just admit if you’re scared, Jihoon.”

“Never.”   
  


  
***

  
  


They were on the floor. 

Haechan had no idea how they had managed to do that, but now here he was, on the floor, love bites decorating his neck and chest, and Mark Lee,  _ his  _ Mark Lee, taking off their jeans and setting them on the floor before leaning down to kiss Haechan all over again. 

Yet despite being only in boxers, the room was still too hot for Haechan’s liking, and the fact that he could only feel heat travel through his blood as Mark basically devoured Haechan’s lips was not helping. 

“Mark,” Haechan muttered against Mark's lips, the latter pressing kisses over Haechan’s chest again. “It’s too hot in here,” he whined. 

Mark paused, trying to catch his breath as he looked down at Haechan’s eyes. “I’m sorry,” he sputtered, chest heaving up and down rapidly. “I’m getting carried away.”

“Oh, you can get carried away all you want,” Haechan muttered. “I still think this is a dream.”

“Me too,” Mark agreed, breathing heavily. “You don’t know how much I have longed for you.”

“Probably not as long as me,” Haechan said, wrapping his hands around Mark’s neck, pulling him closer. “Bet.”

“I think before I was ten,” Mark admitted. 

Haechan almost choked. “S-since you were ten?!” he sputtered. 

“Basically.” 

“Mark Lee,” Haechan said, pressing a cheek on his best friend’s face - wait, should they still call each other that? “You really are something else.”

“I’m going to take that as a compliment,” Mark whispered, sucking on Haechan’s earlobe, delighted to hear the other gasping again. 

Haechan wrapped his legs around Mark’s waist, their erections accidentally rubbing against each other causing them both to moan in ecstasy. “M-Mark, please.”

Mark’s eyes widened, both at the touch and to Haechan’s words. “Donghyuck, are you sure?”

“We’re about to die anyways,” Haechan reminded him.

“True, true.” 

Mark stuck his fingers inside Haechan’s waistband of his boxers, hesitating. He’s been dreaming of this moment for so long, thousand what-if scenarios having gone through his head and now- now it was happening, with Haechan, with his Haechan- 

He pulled in down in a swift move, debating whether he should look down or not. Either way, the room was dark, the flashlight not doing shit, but he could still see a little-

“Minhyung, what did I tell you about your existential crises,” Haechan reminded him, using the latter’s Korean name. 

“Don’t call me Minhyung, that ruins the moment,” Mark argued. 

“That ruins the moment,” Haechan repeated, mockingly. “No, what ruins the moment is that I’m naked and you’re not.”

“You’re  _ that  _ desperate to see me naked, huh?” And like that, Mark pulled down his own boxers, tossing them aside before leaning back down on Haechan’s body, seeing his best friend blush. “What, do you like it?”

Haechan made eye contact with Mark, refusing to look away. “I am not obliged to answer that question.”

“I’ll make you answer it.” Mark had no idea where his sudden confidence was coming from, but he wasn’t going to waste it as he suddenly wrapped his hand around Haechan’s dick, surprising the latter. 

Haechan groaned at the sudden contact, throwing his head back as he let Mark pump his dick a few times, moaning in pleasure. “Mark, mark-”

Mark let go of his dick. “What, do you want me to stop?”

“Mark! You  _ can’t  _ be serious right now.” 

Bewildered, Mark grabbed Haechan’s dick again. “Sorry, sorry! You know I’m not experienced!”

He moved his hand up and down, albeit a bit nervous. He’s always done this to himself, either in the dark bliss of the night or when he wakes up with morning wood, but he didn’t know how Haechan liked it. 

Although it looked like Haechan was enjoying himself. The way he moaned and gasped, saying Mark’s name over and over again, was doing things to Mark. He could feel the blood going straight to his own cock, getting harder just by looking at Haechan react this way. 

Mark wrapped his hand around both their dicks instead, pumping them together as he bit down a moan. His dick was screaming in pleasure making contact with Haechan’s, and the latter seem to think that too, as he grinded upwards against Mark’s crouch, desperate for more friction.

The two were sweating uncontrollably, moving against each other at a rapid pace, and just when Mark thought he was going to cum any second now, he let go of their dicks, leaning back a bit as the two struggled to catch their breaths. 

They stayed like that for a minute, calming themselves down, but then Mark pressed a finger against Haechan’s lips. “It’s going to hurt, so…”

Nodding, Haechan opened his mouth, letting Mark put it in finger slowly, Haechan sucking on it softly. 

Mark eventually added two more fingers, and when he thought they were slick enough, pulled them out and put Haechan’s leg over his shoulder. “Tell me when to stop.”

Haechan nodded, so Mark took that as his cue to go between Haechan’s legs, and when he felt the rim, Haechan couldn’t help but whimper at the sensation, so Mark gave him a few seconds before putting in the first finger. 

It was DEFINITELY a new feeling. Despite Mark having done sex once (1), he doesn’t remember anything about the feeling, only random bits of memories here and there, meaning he was basically inexperienced. 

Haechan was tight,  _ really  _ tight. He let out a loud gasp at the foreign touch, and Mark was wondering if maybe Haechan had done this to himself before, fucking on his fingers thinking about Mark-

He took the finger out a bit before sliding it back in, Haechan grabbing onto Mark’s hair, pulling him closer to him as he panted. “Mark, Mark- ah, Mark it hurts a bit-”

“Sorry, sorry,” Mark almost completely took it out, leaving only the tip in, as he gave Haechan time to readjust. “Tell me when I can do it again.”

“Now, I’m good now,” Haechan admitted, gasping again when he felt Mark’s finger enter him again, pumping it slowly as he tried to feel Haechan’s walls. 

When Mark added the second and third fingers, Haechan was getting more desperate, more needy as he moaned to the touch of Mark, the air in the room too hot, he couldn’t breathe-

“Mark, hurry,” Haechan whined, arching his back, his head hitting the floor as he begged for more. 

Mark took out his fingers, Haechan whimpering at the loss feeling, only to then feel something prodding at the entrance. “Donghyuck, you don’t know how much you mean to me.”

“Show me,” Haechan sputtered, feeling Mark’s dick enter inside him. 

Mark did show him. 

***

Xiaojun woke up to the feeling of lying on someone’s lap, his hair being played with. 

He turned around to look up, meeting Kun’s gaze. “Is everything okay?” he muttered. 

Kun looked surprised when Xiaojun woke up. “You haven’t been knocked out for long. I don’t know what’s happened.”

Xiaojun yawned, rubbing his eyes. “Sorry, I’m just really tired.”

“It’s fine.” Kun wrapped his arm around Xiaojun's waist, comforting him. “You can go back to sleep, I’m not going anywhere.”

“Do you really mean it?” he whispered, eyes already fluttering shut. 

_ Why wouldn’t I?  _ was the last thing Xiaojun heard before drifting back to sleep. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry if yall thought it was too much markhyuck, i just didnt want to write a big ass section of them fucking so i spread it out  
and if someone complains its unrealistic... first of all there are ALIENS in this story  
yeah this is like the third smut scene ive ever written (fourth if you included jerking off?? idk) so hopefully it was okay???? 
> 
> also jisung is a mood tbh
> 
> I got a twitter if you guys want updates, it's @jongkey_krisho!!!!


	13. Some History (*blasts Queen*)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> in the last part of this chapter, there is a brief mention of suicide. I know i didn't tag this in the beginning, but I'm letting you know now if you can't read it. (notice the tag changes)
> 
> ALSO!! READ THE ENDING NOTE REGARDING UPDATES ON MY STORIES

_ “Hello this is Anna McCoyle on CNN, here we have Michael Fischer live in Washington DC reporting at the white house.” _

_ “Yes, hello Anna, I’m here bringing news to you guys LIVE where just 50 minutes ago at Austin, Texas there has been what the President Barack Obama has described has a potential terrorist attack where multiple similar-looking men have been killing every human they come in contact, thankfully the military has been sent to Texas and has shot down the men, over 300 deaths have been reported and people are waiting for the President’s next response.” _ _   
_ _   
_ _ \--- _

_ New York Times Breaking News: Murder Spree at Texas, labeled as terrorist attack _

_ At 5:58 in the evening it was reported that similar looking men both in appearance and behavior had started killing innocent civilians in Austin, Texas, right now the military and the police informed the public that around 300 people have died at the hands of these men, although it was reported by many people who survived that they acted inhuman- _ _   
_ _   
_ _ \--- _

_ Han Yeji @marrymehoseok 18 minutes ago _

_ OK so these men attacking people in texas looks like this guy outside my house??? He started banging the fence and my dad hit him with the metal bars and some green liquid came out of him??? What??? _

_ [image attached] [image attached] [image attached] _

_ Comments:  _

_ Song Jiseo @exoisbetter 4 minutes ago _

_ Replying to @marrymehoseok _

_ OMG thats really weird are you going to tell the police?? _

_ Han Yeji @marrymehoseok 3 minutes ago _

_ Replying to @exoisbetter _

_ The police is on their way, there’s no incident of these men in Seoul or anywhere else, I thought it was just Texas, this is near the Neo Culture Technology school btw, we’re the only house that lives near the school for a mile, there’s a forest there too _

  
  


***

“Okay, so we’re on the second floor,  _ now  _ what’s your plan?” Doyoung told Lucas, crossing his arms. 

“Easy, we just jump out the window-”

“I’m not going to live to see my wedding,” Ten muttered to himself. “Where’s Taeyong and Jaehyun when you need them?”

“Shouldn’t we have gone to get weapons??” Yangyang suggested. “And how  _ exactly  _ are we going to jump out the window-”

“We tie our jackets, duh.” Johnny took off his hoodie, exposing his abs a little when his shirt got lifted up. “We have to tie it very tightly or else we die-”

“This isn’t really safe-”

“Taeil, we’re being murdered by aliens right now, the  _ last  _ thing we need is logic.” Lucas took off his jacket as well, handing it to Johnny so that he could tie them together. “Guys, give Johnny your jackets.”

“Can’t we just go to the office, it’s not even that hard,” Si Cheng complained. “You guys are doing all this extra work, none of you even have keys to open the classroom doors.”

All nine of them looked at Si Cheng, eyes wide. None of them have even thought of that. 

“That’s IT! We are all OFFICIALLY STUPID!” Yuta shrieked. “You made you two leader anyway?”

“Because me and Lucas are the tallest and can see all your flaws from here,” Johnny explained, only to get punched by Ten. “I meant that we are smarter than y’all- ow, I meant-”

“We get it, Johnny, you have a superior complex,” Hendery muttered.

Doyoung sighed, grabbing Jungwoo’s hand to separate him from Lucas. “Let’s just go to the office.”

  
  


***

  
  


Donghyuck snuggled closer to Mark, hugging him tighter. “It’s kind of chilly in here.”

“I mean, we  _ are  _ naked, Haechan,” Mark said, tightening his grip on Donghyuck. “And you left your blanket with the others.”

“Dammit, that would have come in handy.”

The two were laying on the floor in the same position as earlier, back when they still had their clothes on, Donghyuck lying on Mark’s arm while the latter wrapped his other arm around Haechan’s waist, the two staring at each, grinning like idiots. 

Haechan reached up to play with Mark’s hair. “I can’t believe you took my virginity in Mr. Park’s apocalypse proof computer classroom.”

“Well, the locked metal door prevents anyone from walking in on us,” Mark explained. “Plus there’s a killer outside the classroom. Might as well enjoy our time here.”

“With no mac and cheese?”

“Fuck, we don’t have mac and cheese.” Mark lifted his leg and threw it over Haechan’s body, wrapping their legs together. He felt their dicks rubbed each other, causing Haechan’s face to turn red. “Someone’s excited.”

“Shut up, Mark, there’s a killer outside.” Haechan buried his face on Mark’s chest, refusing to look at his best friend. “Plus, my ass hurts.”

“I guess not using lube was a…” Mark pulled Donghyuck’s face away from his chest so that he could look at him. “A pain in the ass.”

“Where the fuck is this confidence coming from?!” Haechan shrieked, letting go of Mark and rolling off his arm to face the other side. “Don’t touch me.”

Mark rolled his eyes, laughing. “No, come back here, Haechan, I love you.”

Haechan crossed his arms and pouted, even though he knew Mark couldn’t see him. “No. I don’t appreciate jokes about my injuries.”

“Please, I miss you.” Mark wrapped his arms around Donghyuck, back hugging him while nuzzling his head on Haechan’s neck. “You’re the most precious thing on this earth.”

Haechan grabbed Mark’s hands, entwining their fingers. “I thought that was your Ukiss collection.”

“Believe it or not, Haechan, you're more precious than Kevin.”   
  


“What about Jun?”

“Him too.”

“Eli?”

“Yep.”

“Kiseop?”

“... Yeah.”

“YOU HESITATED!”

“I’m just  _ kidding,  _ you know I love you.”

“Yeah, me too.”   
  


  
***

  
  


“I fucking hate all of you,” Renjun muttered, clutching tighter to Taeyong. “I’m going to die because of you guys."

“Damn, just throw away my love for you, I guess,” Jaemin said, pouting. “Don’t make me threaten you with acid-”

“Can we  _ not  _ do death jokes right now,” Jeno whispered. “I’m scared."

“Don’t worry, Jeno.” Jisung swung his free arm around Jeno, pulling him closer. His other arm was being used to hold on to Chen Le’s hand. “We’re going to survive this and go home and have all the fucking cake we want.”

“Egg tarts!!” Jeno exclaimed, earning a hush from the entire group. “Oh, sorry.”

They continued walking down the hallway and made the final turn, where the office was know in full view.

However, there was also a group of two men congregated there, not sensing them yet. 

“So I’m going to assume no one has reached here yet,” Jaehyun whispered to the group, holding them back with his hands, Jeno clutching one of his arms. “Not sure if that’s a good thing or bad thing.”

“Oh, please don’t make me imagine them dead.” Taeyong took a step closer but felt Jaehyun’s hand on his shoulder. “Someone has to go and kill them.”

Jaehyun held back his tongue, nodding. Despite him wanting to do it himself to make sure no one got hurt, they had to work together if they wanted to get rid of these aliens. “Let’s do it.”   
  


***

No matter how hard he tried, Xiaojun just couldn’t sleep. 

He was tired, yes, and had his eyes close; he just felt so  _ exhausting _ , and oh how he wished he could be back home- no, back in China in his old bedroom, his favorite watermelon bed covers which were so soft and comfy to sleep in. They lost the box with their bed sheets when moving to Korea, so that watermelon duvet was never to be seen again.

Of course, the internet existed, but he couldn’t sleep on a bare mattress for a week, so he just let his mom buy him some new plain white sheets.

He didn’t even have a blanket with him right now, and the classroom was really chilly despite being the end of summer, so he couldn’t help it but shiver constantly, arms wrapped tightly around himself. 

He did, however, feel someone's arm wrapped around his waist, and it comforted him knowing it was Kun.

"You can sleep, you know," Kun said, curling a strand of Xiaojun's hair around his finger and letting it go over and over. Kun hadn’t spoken much to him during the whole incident and it was hard to know what he was thinking, but Xiaojun didn’t feel like asking. 

“The idea of us being killed any minute now prevents me from drifting off to dreamland,” Xiaojun explained, closing his eyes once again. Maybe this time it will work. “Unless I get really tired. Then maybe I won’t care.”

“I am kind of concerned, but after finals, that’s my exact feeling, so I can’t really say anything.” Kun tucked some strands of Xiaojun’s hair behind the latter’s ear. “Seriously, you can sleep Xiaojun, it’s fine.”

Xiaojun shook his head, pushing himself off of Kun’s lap to sit up. At least he didn’t have a headache anymore. “Honestly, I’m not in the mood to sleep, I just can’t.” 

Kun reached out and grabbed Xiaojun’s hand, entwining their fingers together. “Well, let’s just hope everything goes okay,” he reassured him. “I know we’ll get out of here in no time.”

Xiaojun laughed. “If you say so.”

  
  


***

“Soonyoung, why did you stop us-” Jihoon said, Soonyoung holding him back. Since he was much taller than Jihoon, he was unfortunately blocking his view. “Let me see-”

“It’s not good, I’m warning you.”

Jihoon stepped to the right, wiggling out of Soonyoung’s grasp, only for his eyes to go wide in shock. 

There were a bunch of dead bodies scattered around the hallway.

“None of these are the kids, right?” Jihoon asked, trying his best to survey the surroundings. There was no blood, only the weird green liquid that the aliens released, and all the bodies looked alike. 

“Not that I know of.” Soonyoung walked slowly to the alien closest to them, hitting it with his foot. “Looks dead to me.”

“Well, it looks like the high schoolers can defend themselves,” Jihoon muttered to himself. “Shit, Soonyoung, they’re probably back at the office thinking that they can go home.” 

Soonyoung made an ‘oh’ face. “Well… we can always walk together, you know, safety in numbers.”

“You and your idioms.” 

“Well, I  _ like  _ my idioms, thank you very much,” Soonyoung pouted, crossing his arms. Somehow he didn’t cut his arm with the large knife that he was still holding. “Actually, is that an idiom? I don’t think so.”

“I wouldn’t know, it’s been two years since I graduated from grad school,” Jihoon admitted. He had a masters in astrophysics, just like Soonyoung.

That had been a weird coincidence once they reunited 2 years ago. The two had gone through six years of not talking, and then when Soonyoung was trying to chat with him, asking how it's been, they discovered that they had majored the same thing in college and gotten a masters, while applying for a job at NASA. Jihoon never recalled Soonyoung having an interest in science, although to be fair, he hadn’t been caught up with Soonyoung’s interests throughout high school. 

“English class sucked ass anyways, probably why we’re in the science field,” Soonyoung said, continuing to walk down the hallways, Jihoon behind him. “At least there’s plenty of aliens to go to Area 51 for testing.”

“I can’t  _ believe  _ you wanted to go to the so-called raid,” Jihoon muttered, remembering when Soonyoung tried to get a week off, only to get rejected by his boss, knowing exactly what he was going to do. “You, of all people, know the security measures they have in that place.

“It’s all fancy talk, anyways.”

  
  


***   
  


Since they didn’t want to waste their efforts going upstairs, they tried to open the doors but to no avail; none of them knew how to lockpick, that was Mark’s speciality. They did, however, find an open classroom, so they just made as many weapons as they could. (It was Mr. Wu’s English classroom, so it was pretty useless; they did find his secret stash of knives, however, so that came in handy.) 

They rushed down the stairs, all ten of them, and quickly but quietly made their way to the office, where they discovered a fight was going on in there. 

They recognized the aliens, of course, but when they noticed Jaehyun, Taeyong, and everyone else, they rushed in to help, only for the group to be done when they came inside. 

“Yo, that was pretty badass!!” Yangyang yelled, now that there weren’t any aliens who could kill them. 

“If you’ve been like that all day, how are you not dead?!” Jaehyun screamed at him, throwing the now-empty pipettes in his hand on the ground. “Jesus.”

“Oh, they’ve been almost dead plenty of times,” Doyoung muttered under his breath, crossing his arms. 

Taeil stepped forward to glance around the office. “Where’s the Americans?”

“They’re not here yet nor are they outside with the car,” Taeyong explained, pointing out the window. “Hopefully they’re not taking that long.”

“Ay, Xiaojun and Kun are with them,” Lucas reminded the big group of seventeen people. “Wait, why aren’t Mark and Haechan with you?”

“Oh, god, we have so many people missing,” Taeyong muttered, scratching the back of his neck. “What are we going to do?”

“We’re going to have to get out of the school eventually,” Johnny said. “Any ideas?”

“Those who have their cars, go outside and bring it,” Taeil said. “Let’s all just go home, I doubt these aliens run faster than 100 kilometers per hour.”

“I really don’t think the group should be separated,” Ten interrupted him. “Look what happened with the others, we don’t know where they are.”

Si Cheng shrugged. “Then let’s just go and find them.”

“Guys, I  _ really  _ don’t think any of us should be going anywhere,” Taeyong spoke over them. “Look, I don’t know about you guys, but some of us are injured,” he said, pointing at the freshmen and sophomores behind him. “And Ten’s right, we shouldn’t be separating, we don’t even know what’s going on.

“We can’t just do nothing!” Yuta yelled at him. “How do we know if  _ they  _ aren’t injured and need our help?”

“ _ You  _ wouldn’t have gotten injured if you didn’t lunge headfirst to those aliens,” Doyoung reminded him. 

Taeyong’s eyes went wide. “You did  _ what _ ?!”

“Look, let’s just stay here for some time, okay?” Jaehyun said. “If they don’t come, we go and look for them, but for now, we stay in the office like we were asked.”

  
***

“How’s school like back in China?” Kun asked Xiaojun, the two of them swinging their legs back and forth on the table as they talked. “I haven’t been there in a while.”

Xiaojun shrugged. “Same as here except it’s in Mandarin. I guess it was fun, you know. My family wasn’t fighting yet, I had a boyfriend and hung out with him everywhere, it’s, well, you know.”

Kun patted Xiaojun’s thigh, grabbing his hand. “I’m sorry.”

“Nah, don’t worry, my dad had always been a cheating bastard and my ex wasn’t the person I thought he was.” Xiaojun sighed, staring at their entwined hands. “At least I wasn’t dealing with aliens.”

Kun nodded, also looking down at their hands together. “If you don’t mind me asking… what happened between you two?”

“Who, my dad or my ex?” Xiaojun asked.

“Erhm, either or neither is fine,” Kun responded, not wanting to pry too much into Xiaojun’s life. They’ve only known each other for about two weeks, after all, although this alien attack is making everything seem much longer.

Xiaojun bit his bottom lip, hesitating before responding. “I guess… not going to lie, I don’t remember how we first met,” he said. He stopped swinging his legs. “But I do remember always wanting to see him play basketball after school.”

Oof, sports. “Damn, I’m not good at basketball.”

“Me neither,” Xiaojun said, laughing. “But you know, he played it, so I had to watch him.” He smiled, thinking of the memory before turning neutral again. “Yeah, Zhangwei, he was on the basketball team and did bets and stuff. You know, despite me always watching him, he was the one who asked me out first.”

“I thought that only happened in movies,” Kun commented. 

“Yeah, apparently it was mutual? So it turned out whenever I  _ did  _ think he was looking at me, he was.” Xiaojun paused, swinging his legs again but slowly. “It was weird, because everyone bullied me for being gay, despite me not being out nor talking to anyone, so I don’t know how that rumor started, but yet I didn’t know he was bi.” 

“Wait, you were bullied?” 

Xiaojun waved him off. “It was a long time ago, and you learn to stop caring. But yeah, when we started seeing each other, he didn’t mind letting other people know. We would hold hands, he would kiss me at my locker, walk me home. It was… endearing to say the least.”

China was homophobic, Kun remembered, extremely homophobic. Korea here was too, but at their school, it was really open minded and accepting. Heck, all of their friends were gay. “That’s cool, I know most people would want to hide it.”

“Yeah, it was nice, plus my mother already knew so…” Xiaojun shrugged. “I really did think he was the one.”

He stayed silent for a bit after that, letting go of Kun to rub his palms together slowly. “You know, the reason why we broke up is kind of stupid but does involved felonies.”

Kun’s eyes widened. “Did- did I just hear that correctly?”

“Yeah, about that…” Xiaojun sat up straighter, not wanting to look at Kun in the eye. “So he was my first, right? I trusted him, and he treated me very gently, and I liked it, and you know, I guess the whole… sexual relationship went from there.” He wanted to cringe, he couldn’t  _ believe  _ he was telling Kun this. “So sometimes when we’re having phone sex, he wants my nudes. I personally did not like the idea of someone having nudes, but I trusted him a lot, so I sent them on one condition, that he would delete them afterwards.”

“And he didn’t do it?”

Xiaojun crossed his arms across his chest, staring at the ground. “Even worse.”

“... He didn’t do what I think he did, right?” Kun asked him. There was no way someone.. Spread them, right?

“To be fair, he said it wasn’t him,” Xiaojun said, still not looking at Kun. “His friend did it. And it got me mad for two reasons, one, because he never did delete them like I asked, and two, literally why the hell did he have friends who would do that?!” he exclaimed. 

Xiaojun forced himself to take a deep breath before continuing. “The pictures spread around the whole school and it became a mess. The school board had to step in since I’m a minor and it was considered child pornagraphy, so anyone caught would go to jail. I didn’t press charges against him, but… yeah, the relationship ended after that.”

Kun wrapped his arms around Xiaojun, pulling him into a hug. “I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be, I’m over him, it just hurt, you know?” Xiaojun wrapped his arms around Kun’s waist, pressing his face against the latter’s chest. Kun was really warm and smelled nice, despite all the exercise he had done from fighting and running. “Then right after we discovered my dad cheating on my mom and… yeah, it was not a good end of the school year for me. Let me tell, today is better, despite me almost being killed.”

“I’m kind of concerned for that comparison,” Kun said, “but hopefully this day doesn’t get any worse.”   
  


  
***

  
  


“This day can’t get any worse,” Jihoon muttered while ripping off the bottom of his shirt to press against Soonyoung’s wound. 

Soonyoung had accidently tripped on a puddle of green liquid and hit his head, like the clumsy person he is. Luckily, his head was fine, but he accidentally stabbed himself on his arm with the knife he had been holding. “It was an accident.”

“It’s common sense that you can run with knives, Hoshi.” Jihoon pressed the cloth on Soonyoung’s arm, trying to stop the bleeding. It was thankfully more like a graze than a stab, since it was close to the skin, but a wound was still a wound. “You have to be more careful.”

“Jihoon, I don’t have time to be careful, okay, there’s people here getting murdered!” Soonyoung yelled at him, stepping away from Jihoon. “Let me deal with this on my own, there should be a restroom nearby.”

“I’m just trying to help,” Jihoon whispered. 

“I don’t need help- ah shit.” Soonyoung clenched his upper arm, trying to keep the blood in. “This is a lot of blood.”

Soonyoung took off his hoodie and pressed it against the wound. It was ruined anyways, since he was stabbed while wearing it. “That’s going to leave a scar for sure.”

Jihoon stayed quiet, letting Soonyoung deal with his wound. “I told you this was a bad idea.”

“Jihoon, not now-”

“I’m serious, Soonyoung, we should go back and at least get it treated-”

“I said not NOW, Jihoon!!” Soonyoung yelled at him. “Why do you  _ always  _ want to be like that?”

“Be like what, concerned? Am I supposed to ignore the fact that you're injured?” Jihoon pointed out. 

“Jihoon, I’m not like you okay? I’m not one who stays inside all day and ignores everyone and hopes the problem goes away!” Soonyoung tried to wrap his hoodie around his arm, tired of holding it up. “Now leave me alone, god.”

Jihoon clenched his fist and threw the knife on the floor, the loud clattering sound being heard throughout the hallway. “You’re a hypocrite.”

“What do you mean, I’m a hypocrite?” Soonyoung asked. “I’m not doing anything!”

“You fucking got mad at me for being too clingy to you, for always caring about all the time and told me to never talk to you again,” Jihoon reminded him, his arms trembling. “And yet when I swallowed pills trying to kill myself, suddenly you were crying next to my bed in the hospital.”

“That-that’s different, Jihoon, hey wait, Jihoon-” Soonyoung let go of his hoodie and ran forward, trying to grab Jihoon’s arm, the latter trying to walk away. “Jihoon, that’s not what I meant-”

“It’s the same fucking thing, Soonyoung,” Jihoon argued, trying to wrestly away from Soonyoung’s grasp. “You just told me to leave you alone-”

Soonyoung wrapped his hands around Jihoon, back hugging him. He didn’t pay attention to the fact that he was literally bleeding out from a wound. “Look, I’m sorry, okay?”

_ I’m sorry _ .

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have two announcements to make, one regarding this fic in general and one regarding the updates and other stories in general
> 
> 1\. Due to covid19 circumstances happening here in my life, starting sunday, I WILL not have internet access nor any chance to write my fics. I don't know how long it'll be, maybe a few weeks or months. It's unfortunate, but I'm letting you know I have NOT abandoned my fics, I will update them as soon as I get the chance. This means that this is the last update for this story for a while as I try to quickly update my other ones to let those readers know.
> 
> 2\. When I finally update the next chapter of this fic, I want you guys to know it will have a trigger warning in reference to attempted suicide. I decided to make the whole chapter about Soonyoung and Jihoon's backstory, so if you can't read it, you can skip ahead and be fine. I'm not glorifying depression nor suicide, a lot of this is based on my personal experience, just to let you know. 
> 
> Remember to stay safe and respect your countries regulations, and let's support NCT's punch and Seventeen's hit the road documentary.


	14. Jihoon and Soonyoung

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ILL EXPLAIN EVERYTHING BUT ANYWAYS REMEMBER TRIGGER WARNING FOR ATTEMPTED SUICIDE, NOT NECESSARY TO READ!!!!

“Can you believe we’re about to start middle school?” Soonyoung told his best friend, Jihoon, who was helping him build a house with craft sticks in the orphanage after dinner. “It’s going to be so much fun.”

To Jihoon, it didn’t sound like fun at all - the movies always portrayed it as more homework and more bullies. However, he knew the media lied all the time, too, so he knew he shouldn’t get worried. He still couldn’t feel himself get excited, though. 

“Let’s just hope everything goes okay,” he said, carefully squeezing the bottle of glue on the side of the house so that the sticks could, well… stick. “It’s different from elementary, that’s for sure.”

“Oh, soon we’ll go to high school and then college and BAM we’re going to have pretty wives and children and go to Disney World with our grown up jobs,” Soonyoung rambled, not paying attention to his wooden house at all. He always did that. “You know that annoying girl, Kasey, who always blocks everyone in the hallway? She was showing her pictures to everyone, including to Niall and Jeffrey, and they thought the trip was amazing.”

Jihoon shrugged. Him and Soonyoung have never gone to amusement parks, much less Disney World. All the kids with families and a little extra money always went there, including to trips to Florida and Hawaii and even other countries, like wherever that Cancun was. It was most probable that Soonyoung and Jihoon wouldn’t have those experiences with families, only on their own once they’re older and age out of the system. 

It has always been Jihoon’s dream to go to South Korea, because of Kpop or whatever some crazy fan girls in school talked about, like Tracy and Angela in his math class. No, it’s because he  _ was  _ Korean, him and Soonyoung. 

He always knew he looked a bit different compared to other kids in school, and that’s because he figured he wasn’t white as those kids were called, but Asian instead, which meant he might get discriminated against. He didn’t know why that was a thing anyways; hating someone because their eyes were different was pretty stupid. He thought adults were supposed to be smart. 

Soonyoung had these thin eyes which people in their class always made fun of him about, calling him the usual Chinese stereotypes. Soonyoung would often cry a lot if he was bullied too much, and it was Jihoon’s job to glare at people until they ran away. 

But yeah, it was his dream to go to the place where there were people like him, who had his name like him and spoke Korean. Jihoon didn’t know much, but him and Soonyoung were learning it together, and soon, they were able to have their own conversations in Korean and have people not understand them. Most of the Asian kids in school were Vietnamese anyways. 

Suddenly, Jihoon saw Soonyoung wave his hand at him. “Hello?? Woozi?? Are you paying attention?”

Woozi, the nickname he had come up with. Soonyoung and Jihoon thought it would be pretty cool to have a nickname, since they didn’t have middle names like a lot of kids in their class. Jihoon would be Woozi and Soonyoung would be Hoshi. They never called each other by their real names anyways. The Hoshi-Woozi combo, Soonyoung would call themselves. Nothing could separate them, nothing. 

“My bad, I was thinking,” Jihoon said, paying attention to his wooden house again. “What were you saying?”

“That if you think we should go to an amusement park after we graduate from high school,” Soonyoung repeated himself. “Ooh, I know, we should  _ definitely  _ spend graduation day together and maybe even go straight to Disney World!”

“If we have the money,” Jihoon agreed. “And I get to have pizza bagel bites.”

“Then it’s a deal!” Soonyoung shrieked, bumping his knee on the table, causing his bad wooden house to dismantle. “Aw, dang nabbit. I spent a lot of time on that.”

  
  


***

When Soonyoung found out he was getting adopted, he had been  _ ecstatic _ . 

He and Jihoon always grew up with the idea that they were never going to get a family. A lot of parents would come to the orphanage and look at them with disgust. 

These parents, however, were different. An American couple, named Jacob and Annabel. They looked really cool and had fancy clothes on, and the social worker told him that they already had some kids around his age and wanted another one.

This made Soonyoung really happy. He was going to have parents and siblings and a house and get this, the family even had a dog! And they went to Disney World every year!

He was packing all his things in a big duffel bag while rambling to Jihoon everything, literally bouncing with excitement. He felt sad that Jihoon was going to stay behind in the orphanage, but Soonyoung was sure that Jihoon would soon get adopted and they could visit each other's houses all the time. 

“Will you still visit?” Jihoon asked him, watching Soonyoung pack the little belongings that he had. “Or will we stop being friends?”

“We could  _ never  _ stop being friends,” Soonyoung stated, zipping up his bag. “Remember, we’re the Hoshi-Woozi combo, remember? Besides, I have to show my new brothers and sisters my best friend.”

  
  


***

Soonyoung and Jihoon remained best friends for the rest of middle school, like they had promised. Soonyoung even invited him over to his house once, where Jihoon was able to meet his family. He got the feeling that Soonyoung’s new mom didn’t like Jihoon much, but Soonyoung would tell him it’s all in his head. 

Freshman year of high school, however…

Soonyoung still hung out with Jihoon often, but he joined the sports team per his mother’s request, even though Jihoon knew for a fact that Soonyoung didn’t like sports. He hated doing a push up for even two seconds.

Soonyoung soon started ranting about the friends he was making. Michael, Dylan, Andy, Luis, Arata. Lots of names of people Jihoon knew around school who were also in the same sports teams as Soonyoung and his classes. 

Pretty soon, though, their meetings together got shorter and shorter due to Soonyoung’s packed schedule, and it would be common for them to barely meet once a month. Jihoon didn’t mind, though, he liked that Soonyoung was enjoying himself.

It’s just… it felt like Soonyoung wasn’t including him anymore. 

Soonyoung’s friends all knew each other but Soonyoung never introduced him to them. He never invited him to his house again, like he promised he would. 

Jihoon didn’t say anything, though, not wanting to bother Soonyoung with his petty thoughts. A big mistake, he soon realized. 

Soonyoung started talking to him less and less, didn’t invite him to his games or birthday parties or to dances with his other friends. 

After graduation, Soonyoung removed him from Facebook, and just like that, their friendship was over. 

  
  


***

“Jihoon, are you listening to me?”

Jihoon didn’t bother to look away from the wall. “I am.”

“I asked if you ever had any friends or someone close to you,” the therapist at the hospital asked him again. 

Jihoon still didn’t bother looking at him. “Once,” he finally muttered, looking down at his lap. “Not anymore.”

“Do you talk to your hall staff? Roommate? Classmates?”

He shook his head, wanting to laugh. The hall staff were really racists and his classmates all knew each other, since everyone went to the same high school. It was a public university, after all.

His roommate was the one who found him. The guy, Joseph, absolutely hated Jihoon with all his guts and never talked to him. Jihoon knew that he wasn’t wouldn’t be coming to their dorm on Friday for a good few hours, so Jihoon gave in to his impulse and took his entire bottle of pills that his one visit to the psychiatrist last year gave him. 

His roommate, unfortunately, had come back with a girl, planning to fuck, and had freaked out when he saw Jihoon on the floor, barely breathing and faint pulse. 

Lucky Jihoon. 

“Can I go now?” Jihoon asked, glaring at the therapist. “I hate hospitals.”

The therapist shook his head. “We’re going to have to put you in a mental hospital for a few days to keep an eye on you. As it says here in your chart, you haven’t been going to any mental health services, correct?”

  
  


***

Jihoon graduated with a degree in astrophysics, massive loan debt, and diagnosed clinical depression. 

He decided to apply for graduate school, hoping to maybe earn a Master’s degree, and luckily, he was accepted, so it meant two more years of more studying, dealing with more people, and that was basically it. 

He had yet to develop “interests” and a “personality” according to the rude therapist that his university offered that Jihoon had no idea how he became a therapist. He would tell Jihoon to talk to people, to not be sad as if he were doing it by choice. It’s not like he would be wallowing in his room, mumbling ‘I’m sad’ over and over. That was some weird shit that Hollywood did. 

Nah, Jihoon was perfectly fine listening to Marina and the Diamonds while eating shredded cheese and not doing anything else. String cheese, though, that was nasty as hell, which is why he had trouble enjoying mozzarella sticks. Besides, he was  _ literally  _ interested in astrophysics, why else would he have social media if it weren’t to follow space accounts. 

When he was about to graduate from his master’s program, the professor which Jihoon helped as a research assistant told him of this internship that NASA was offering that would pick three people in total to work for them, and only one of them would be from their school. 

Jihoon was able to get into the internship and put all his work into it, and he was eventually picked as a new NASA employee due to his excellent work in gravitational waves. Countless coffee cups and all-nighters leading him to get a good job in his profession, where he could make a difference in the field. It definitely helped him feel at least a little bit good about himself. 

They had an orientation for him and the two new employees, so Jihoon arrived in Washington DC and got himself settled before the big day arrived. Being from the Midwest, he wasn’t that far from DC compared to other states in the country, but it had still been a lengthy bus ride.

He made his way to the Two Independence Square building where the NASA headquarters was located and was soon directed by an employee where to go. They took him to a small room, where the other two employees were sitting, and-

No. Fucking. Way. 

Soonyoung’s eyes widened when he made eye contact with Jihoon. “Are… are you-”

“I would like you guys to meet Jihoon Lee,” the employee said, introducing Jihoon to the other two. “He’s going to enter the program along with you guys.”   
  


***

  
  


After the orientation, they were told that their first day was going to be on Monday, where they would assign them what departments they would work under and their first assignments. 

Soonyoung always wondered what happened to Jihoon. They drifted apart during high school and lost contact; it’s been more than six years. He never figured out where Jihoon went to university, what he studied, where he worked now. 

And now Jihoon was going to be working alongside him. 

Jihoon made his way outside, walking on the sidewalk to head towards the nearest bus station, when Soonyoung ran after him, calling for his attention. “JIHOON! WAIT FOR ME!!”   
  


Jihoon turned around to see Soonyoung following him. “Soonyoung?”

Soonyoung caught up to him, trying to catch his breath. “Yo, how long has it been? A couple years? I haven’t seen you in ages!” he said in Korean instead of English, the language they always preferred to talk to each other. 

“Um, yeah,” Jihoon said, pointing back at the building. “I mean, you heard them, I’m going to work here now, so…”

“I know, right? That’s so cool, what a coincidence.” Soonyoung patted his pockets to search for his keys. “Hey, why don’t we go for lunch together? My treat, promise."

“You  _ really  _ don’t have to, it’s fine-” Jihoon tried to deny. 

“No, it’s okay, by the way, how long have you been in DC anyways?” Soonyoung asked, curious. “It’s very different from Minnesota, am I right?”

It had been  _ quite  _ the experience when Soonyoung moved from Minnesota to Massachusetts for university, but he adjusted fairly quickly. Harvard had been your typical prestigious school; a lot of rich kids who tried to show off during classes, but most of them were just normal people who wanted to study and do great things. Sure, it had been extremely hard, and Soonyoung was sure he bought so much Five Hour Energy that he should have died any day now, but it had been pleasant in general. 

“It’s… different, yes,” Jihoon agreed, looking around. “I was really planning on going home, to be honest-”

“No, it’s fine, we should go eat something, at least, if you want,” Soonyoung offered. He didn’t want to push Jihoon, since they just had a long day - how Soonyoung wished he should just go back to his place and knock out as soon as he hit the couch. “But let me tell you, there are some  _ great  _ restaurants here."

Jihoon bit his lip, not saying anything, before nodding. “Yeah, okay, that sounds good.”   
  


  
***

Lunch had been a bit awkward at first, the two curious on how the other had been, but soon they had a conversation going, updating each other on how they’ve been. 

It didn’t take long for them to be like how they used to, back when they still managed to hang out with each other constantly. Soonyoung teased Jihoon for his love of pizza rolls and bagel bites, claiming lunchables were better, and their normal bickering came back to normal. 

The job at NASA was a bit daunting, to say the least. There was a lot of work Jihoon and Soonyoung had to do as newbies and could be challenging, but it was… doable, at least. 

At least it was a job they enjoyed. Jihoon loved anything to do with space and was marveled at the constant discoveries the people here would make. Finding new galaxies, binary stars, antimatter and dark matter research,  _ everything _ . 

What they didn’t know was proof of “aliens” like people would say, but technically speaking, they have already found asteroids with bacteria, so there  _ was  _ a sign of life. It’s just like how life on Earth was created; atoms with carbon turned to microorganisms like bacteria and archaea, which soon developed into multicellular organisms like the ones we know today with complex nervous systems. 

If there were multicellular organisms in space, that would be really cool in Jihoon’s opinion, but he didn’t believe it would be like how the media portrayed it. He often wondered how they would be formed, since organisms evolved based on their habitats, like the classic example of Darwin’s finches, how the same group of birds developed different beaks based on their region, for instance. There was yet to be a planet like Earth with the same type of climates, temperature, ozone layer, you name it. 

Soonyoung thought there were aliens, and he was telling his theories to Jihoon  _ again  _ when they were at his house on Saturday. 

They had been spending time with each other constantly, Soonyoung often inviting Jihoon to his house. It was pretty nice, Jihoon admitted, how Soonyoung would teach him how to play video games and they would eat together. They weren’t close to any of the NASA employees yet, only knowing each other. 

“Considering how there are billions of other planets and stars in the universe, surely Earth isn’t the only one with creatures with intelligent life?” Soonyoung said, taking a big bite of the Chinese food he had ordered from a local buffet. He had been too lazy to cook anyways, and so what if it was fake, chicken and rice was chicken and rice. “What was that one equation that this smart guy made? Same name as some rapper-”

“The Drake Equation?” Jihoon answered. “It predicts how many alien civilizations there are in space.”

“Yes, that’s the one, Drake sucks ass, though, Flo Rida is way better.” Soonyoung grabbed another carton with rice and stabbed his fork in it. “Man, I miss the old party music back in high school- anyways, the Drake Equation has like, what, six, seven variables?”

Jihoon shrugged. “I don’t know much about the Drake Equation, but I had a professor who was really against it, how it’s impossible to draw conclusions about it.”

“It’s not the equation itself, but the  _ idea  _ surrounding the equation,” Soonyoung continued ranting, popping a shrimp in his mouth as he continued talking, half-chewing, half-speaking. “Out of all the planets in the universe, at least a small amount should support life, and some of  _ those  _ should be advanced like us.”

“I mean, I think so too, but it’s highly unlikely that it’s going to be around the Milky Way,” Jihoon said. “I mean, with all the stuff we put into space, they must have detected it.”

“Unless they’re smart unlike us humans and don’t want to get involved,” Soonyoung said. “I don’t know, I think it would be a very cool concept.”

  
  


***

  
  


About two months went by, and the other NASA employees finally warmed up to the two Korean-Americans. 

Well, to Soonyoung, that is. 

They would sit with them during their lunch break, curious about the two individuals. When Soonyoung told them that they had been reunited after being separated so long from high school, people thought it was unbelievable.

Jihoon knew that Soonyoung was a likable person; he was outgoing, eccentric, kind, quite different than when Jihoon had first met him. The women at the orphanage always complained about how Soonyoung was a “difficult child” and he always cried to Jihoon how no one at school liked him. That had changed throughout the years; Soonyoung got easily developed more friends in school and got a pretty large network circle, but always chose to remain by Jihoon’s side. Before high school, that is. 

Jihoon wondered if maybe this wouldn’t have been a problem for him if he had made his own friends in high school instead of being tired all the time. At the end of the day, Soonyoung could choose to hang out with whoever he damn pleased. Plus, Jihoon needed to stop dreaming, childhood friends don’t remain friends for life, right? What was the statistic again? He used to know it by heart. 

Unlike in high school, however, Soonyoung constantly hung out with Jihoon and their co-workers, always inviting Jihoon along, whether it was to Chili’s (which Jihoon thought suck ass) or some party. Jihoon didn’t always go, sometimes choosing to stay home in bed, but it was nice of Soonyoung to always include him in those activities.

At least, that’s what he thought he did. 

***   
  


“Are you free this weekend?” Jihoon asked Soonyoung when they were packing up after their shift at 4 PM.

Soonyoung shook his head. “No, sorry, can’t make it, I have an appointment.” He slung his bag over his shoulder and took out his car keys from his pocket. “Well, I’m off-”

“Wait, Soonyoung, it’s about-” Jihoon got up from his seat and tried to pull back Soonyoung’s sleeve but missed. “Soonyoung-”

“We can hang out next weekend, okay?”   
  


  
***

That Saturday, Jihoon was lying on his couch, eating a block of pepper jack cheese. He’s been meaning to get the remote control by now or do some cleaning, but he hasn’t been able to. 

On his phone, he scrolled down YouTube, trying to find another National Geographic documentary to watch, but came up blank. Maybe he should just waste his time on another app, too.

He had tossed his birthday cake in the trash after forcing himself to buy it the other day, rendering it useless, so all he had to eat was a bag of lettuce which he already ate and the cheese. His pizza rolls have been  _ long  _ gone. 

His stomach rumbled but he ignored it, choosing to go on Facebook instead. Maybe he’ll find something interesting there, he thought. Or maybe Karens arguing on the internet. Yeah, that won’t be fun. 

After watching a video about the planet that rains molten glass sideways (exoplanet HD 189733 b, he could recall proudly), another video popped up, which had been posted by Soonyoung. 

He was taking a video in selfie mode, where you could see their NASA coworkers in the back, laughing while drinking and watching something on the television. Jihoon doesn’t remember when it was; he had no collection of being in someone’s house recently.

Actually, they haven’t been invited to any events in a while. It was November, though; the weather was much colder here in DC, so maybe no one has been wanting to do anything recently-

Until he noticed it says the video was posted five minutes ago.

Scratch that,  _ Jihoon  _ was the one who hadn’t been invited. 

Didn’t Soonyoung say he had an appointment or something? Did it end early? Damn it, Jihoon should have texted him and see how it went. 

He texted Soonyoung, wanting to see how the latter’s day went, but he never got a response. 

***

  
  


“Why are you always looking so bum?” Soonyoung asked him during dinner early August. 

It has been over two months since Soonyoung had visited Jihoon after work - actually, they barely talked to each other  _ at  _ work. Soonyoung had been promoted as a team leader in his department, so they didn’t interact much. He wasn’t a good texter, either.

They were at Jihoon’s house, where it was the first time in three weeks that Jihoon made a proper meal, only because Soonyoung was here after so long. The living room had been very messy, so he shoved everything into his bedroom, hoping Soonyoung wouldn’t go in there.

Jihoon continued picking at his plate. He wasn’t hungry tonight, having already eaten a sandwich today. “I’m not bummed about anything.”

“You just always have this look on your face like someone died or something,” Soonyoung explained, setting his fork down. “What gives?”

“This is my regular face,” Jihoon argued, glaring at Soonyoung. “You would know that if you saw it more often.”

“Excuse me for having a life,” Soonyoung said, pushing his seat back and throwing his napkin on his plate. “I have to go.”

_ No, don’t lose him as a friend again, don’t lose him.  _ “Wait, Soonyoung-”

Soonyoung grabbed his jacket off the couch, ignoring Jihoon walking after him. “See you at work,” he said, taking his keys out. 

“Soonyoung, wait, I didn’t mean it.” Jihoon grabbed Soonyoung’s arm, pulling him back. “Don’t go.”

“Then what?” Soonyoung asked rather harshly. “Jesus, Jihoon, I can’t even ask you a fucking question, what’s got you so worked up?”

Jihoon opened his mouth but didn’t say anything, choosing to instead clutch Soonyoung’s arm harder. “It’s just… we don’t see each other anymore.”

“What do you want me to  _ do  _ Jihoon, what, you want me to drop everything for you?” Soonyoung yanked his arm off Jihoon’s grasp. “You’re so fucking clingy so much and want to pry into everything, no wonder you were never adopted.”

Soonyoung walked towards the door and opened it, not looking back. “Don’t ever fucking talk to me again,” he shouted before slamming the door behind him.

  
  


***

On his way back to his house, Soonyoung ran over the entire conversation over in his head, his knuckles turning white as he gripped the steering wheel hard. 

Jihoon pried too much. He was always asking random shit to Soonyoung, getting in his business. Like, geez, calm down, get a life or something, why did he always have to ask Soonyoung for stuff?

He thought it would be nice for them to hang out today, but Jihoon always had to ruin it. God. 

Although, he had to admit, the adoption comment was out of hand.

Soonyoung was thankful that he had gotten adopted by his parents. Sure, he had his problems with them, like when he came out as bisexual, yelling at them how they favored his other siblings just because they were “naturally” theirs, or calling his father out on his racism, reminding him he had an Asian child. They got over it, though, they always did; Soonyoung loved them, they were his family. 

He was starting to feel guilty. Jihoon had been by his side the entire time in the orphanage, back when no one liked Soonyoung. The one calming him down during his nightmares, helping Soonyoung not get bullied, reassuring Soonyoung that there was a family out there who wanted him. 

Soonyoung turned to the left and made a u-turn abruptly, making his way back to Jihoon’s place. He had no way how he was going to apologize to Jihoon, but he had to, it wasn’t fair. 

He had at least expected Jihoon to be unwilling to answer Soonyoung; anyone in their right mind would be angry, he got it. 

But instead, he found Jihoon unconscious in the kitchen, an empty bottle of pills on the floor. 

  
  


***

The doctor came out of the room where Jihoon was staying in the Emergency Room. “You can go inside and see him,” he told Soonyoung, who had been waiting outside the entire time for the past few hours. “He’s awake.”

Soonyoung nodded and got up, walking in the room, where Jihoon indeed was awake, staring at his hands in his lap.

“Hey, Jihoon…” he said slowly, trying to judge Jihoon’s reaction. “It’s… me…”

Jihoon didn’t look up. 

Soonyoung sat down on the guest chair next to Jihoon’s hospital bed, next to the IV which was connected to Jihoon’s arm. 

To say that he was surprised when the doctor gave him Jihoon’s medical history file was a big understatement. He had told the doctor that Jihoon had always looked normal, and the doctor told him that was a big harmful stereotype that shouldn’t be made. 

He wiped his face with his sleeve again before extending his arm out to Jihoon, his finger’s touching the latter’s forearm.

Jihoon moved his arm slightly, inching away from Soonyoung’s touch. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I HAVE INTERNET FOR LIKE AN HOUR SO IM UPLOADING THE CHAPTERS I HAVE DONE, IF I GET ACCESS TOMORROW Ill UPLOAD SPIRALING IN PERIL, VILLAGE IN THE FOREST AND STAGGERING FALL OF YOUTH, STAY SAFE DURING COVID19 AND THE PROTESTS AND REMEMBER BLACK LIVES MATTER!!!
> 
> also!!! these experiences are based on my own!!! obviously some things changed, but yes, remember each individual is different!!!


	15. Boredom (like the author rn)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so im going to be updating more regularly now, thankfully. Hopefully you guys all remain safe!!

Soonyoung and Jihoon were both sitting down against the lockers, Soonyoung’s wound patched up, Jihoon’s head on his shoulder. 

“We’re going to die, aren’t we?” Jihoon muttered. 

Soonyoung wrapped his arm around Jihoon’s shoulder, thankful that he didn’t budge. “You know, we probably are, but hey, dying during an alien attack is much cooler than, say, falling down the stairs.”

“The orphanage lady  _ told  _ you not to run on the wet floor while wearing socks and you did not listen,” Jihoon reminded him. 

“That’s true,  _ but  _ she also cursed at Asians under her breath, so as a child I did not give a fuck,” Soonyoung defended himself. 

They stayed silent after a while, Jihoon wrapping his arms around Soonyoung’s waist, hugging him as the latter softly patted his shoulder. “It doesn’t matter if we get through this or not,” Soonyoung said. “But it’s good if we die trying."

“I’d rather die while taking a nap-”

“Jihoon, no-”

“Why not?? I don’t want to die while doing exercise,” Jihoon defended himself.

“Remember the week after we return to DC is our first kickboxing class,” Soonyoung reminded him. “You said you would like that-”

“Because I can pretend it’s conservative republicans,” Jihoon finished, remembering their conversation that one time they went to Walmart. “Giving guns to teachers is stupid and I stand by that.”

“Yes, fuck the patriarchy.”

  
  


***

  
  


“Fuck my life,” Jaehyun muttered to himself as they sat around in the office, bored out of their skull. Was it too much to ask god for them to have working electronics and the internet during an alien invasion? No??

“What was that?” Taeyong, who was right next to him, asked. 

“Oh nothing.” Jaehyun leaned back against the wall. Jeno was on his other side, head on Jaehyun’s lap as he slept. Jaemin and Chen Le were also asleep as well, leaving Renjun and Jisung to talk to each other quietly. “I just said fuck my life.”

Taeyong didn’t say anything, staring at the 127 members in front of him who, unlike the Dream members, were being loud and chaotic. “This situation is unfortunate,” Taeyong agreed quietly. “But at least most of us are together. I’m just worried for…”

“Mark, Haechan, Kun and Xiaojun?” Jaehyun finished for him. 

“Yeah, and the Americans, too, I just hope they're okay,” Taeyong said. “The fact that many of us struggle with just one alien while they are alone makes me worried.”

Jaehyun nodded, continuing to play with the sleeping-Jeno’s hair. “Yeah, not going to lie, but I don’t trust Mark taking care of Donghyuck. He’s going to be like Yuta over there with Si Cheng, trying to impress Donghyuck.”

“I still think those two are dating, but I’m not sure,” Taeyong said. “Are you sure they aren’t?”

“Mark’s a pansy, he would never confess to Donghyuck unless someone else has an obvious crush on him,” Jaehyun explained. “But you never know.”

They continued sitting there in silence, their legs pressed against each other, hands brushing as they watched the people in front of them starting to argue  _ again _ .

“Your idea was stupid to begin with,” Doyoung yelled at Lucas and Johnny. “Now look at where we are-”

“Excuse me, my idea wouldn’t have been stupid if you haven’t interrupted us  _ every five seconds  _ to tell us how stupid it was!!” Johnny yelled back at him. 

“Can you guys just  _ shut up _ already, we get it, everyone is mad at each other, now can we  _ please  _ work out a plan to go home so that I can eat my yogurt I accidentally left in the freezer!!” Si Cheng yelled at all of them. 

Yangyang and Hendery nodded, even though they were too busy playing with the spinning office chairs at the main desk. “Yeah, I have leftover pizza,” Yangyang said. 

“How’s this for an idea?” Ten asked. “We all work to STAY FUCKING ALIVE!!”

“Just up, you’re just saying that cause you’re engaged,” Yuta said, ice pack on his head. It wasn’t technically an ice pack, since the lights went out earlier in the school, so there was no electricity. All the ice packs in the nurse’s office have melted, but at least they were still cold. “Not everyone here has a boyfriend like you, Ten.”

“I’m sorry, did we not just start dating five minutes ago?” Si Cheng reminded him. 

Yuta made an “oh” face. “Fuck, you right. Okay guys, new plan, we work on staying alive-”

“You’re just saying that because you have a boyfriend,” Yangyang said, copying Yuta’s words from earlier. 

“Then why don’t you go fucking ask Hen-”

“CAN WE STOP FUCKING TALKING ABOUT BOYFRIENDS?!?!” Doyoung screamed. “Let’s work on a plan to get out of here!!!”

Johnny grabbed Ten’s arm, surprising his boyfriend. “Well, why don’t  _ you  _ work on the plan, since everything I do is stupid anyways?”

“Someone wants me dead,” Ten muttered to himself.

“You guys  _ do  _ remember that the president of the school is right there?!” Lucas interrupted everyone, pointing at Taeyong sitting against the wall. Jaehyun, who was about to grab Taeyong’s hand, pulled his back in a split-second. “Taeyong, you’re smart, you come up with a plan.”

Taeyong’s eyes widened. “M-me?” He asked in disbelief, pointing at himself.

“Yeah, you’re also president of the 127 club, come on, you have to help us,” Si Cheng pleaded, getting on his knees in front of Taeyong, grabbing his hands. “Please please  _ please  _ think of something before these idiots get us killed-”

“I’m not an idiot!!” Johnny said.

“Johnny, if you loved Ten over here,” Taeil told him, “you would be worried about his safety.”

“I am  _ totally  _ worried about his safety-”

“Babe, not gonna lie, but if I die, it’s probably because of you,” Ten said. 

Taeyong looked at Jaehyun, who made him the “go on” hand motions. “Uh, well- maybe I can come up with something.”   
  


  
***   
  


“I’m bored,” Donghyuck said, sitting up from the floor, Mark’s hand still tightly wrapped around his waist. “Is the serial killer still out there?”

Mark shrugged. “Probably,” he said. “We shouldn’t risk it.”

“Yeah, you right.” Donghyuck grabbed another candy bar that he had purchased earlier and laid down again, head on Mark’s chest as he opened it. “Tell me a story.”

“Uh- okay, here it goes.” Mark dramatically cleared his throat. “Over a decade ago, back in 2008, there was this group of six people-”

“-that debuted into the group Ukiss by NH media, Mark, that is not a story,” Donghyuck scolded him. 

“Well, I got nothing.”

“No, come on, you have to have  _ something _ ,” Donghyuck continued to plead with him. “Come on, make one off the top of your head.”

“Uh… okay, here’s this one.” 

Mark cleared his throat again, only to get smacked on the head by Haechan. “Hey, what was that for?”

“I know you’re not sick with mono or something,” Donghyuck said. “And if you are, you just made out with me knowing this, and if I get sick I’m going to walk straight into the serial killer’s arms.”

“I’m not sick, it’s called  _ dramatic effect _ ,” Mark tried to ignore his ignorant love. “Clearly, you don’t know the rules of storytelling.”

“Unlike someone who was going to tell me the grand finale of Ukiss having a three-member line up-”

“Don’t remind me.”

“Come on, Mark, tell me an actual  _ story _ ,” Haechan cried out, shaking Mark’s shoulders aggressively. “I’m  _ bored _ !!”

“Do I look like an author where I can come up with fanfic off the top of my head, write it on a google doc and then transfer it to Archive Of Our Own?!” Mark said.

Donghyuck squinted his eyes at Mark, glaring. “You’ve read fanfic of Ukiss, have you?”

Mark’s face turned red. “I-I mean  _ no,  _ because all the actual long ones have five thousand fandom tags for it which is just click-baiting,” he confessed. “And the most popular ship was some ACE member with Jun.”

“You poor, poor soul,” Donghyuck said, patting Mark’s hand. “Reading fanfic of idols is weird, though, don’t you think?”

“EXCUSE ME?” 

“What?!” Haechan yelled at him. “It is, isn’t it?”

“You’re not getting a story,” Mark said,” crossing his arms and scooting away from Donghyuck. “How dare you mock my interests.”

“I have  _ never  _ mocked your interests, what type of best friend would I be?” Donghyuck asked him. 

Mark’s eyes widened. “Oh, um… about that… fuck, if I say this, it will be a cliche-”

“What are we?”

“Yeah, that.”

The two laid there in silence, neither wanting to make the first move. 

Only ten seconds past, though, when Donghyuck spoke up. “You ask the question.”

“W-why me?” Mark sputtered, face turning red. “I don’t want to ask it, what if I get rejected?”

Donghyuck glared at him. “We both confessed and fucked and you think you’re going to get rejected?”

Haechan  _ was  _ right with that one. Still, though, it didn’t calm down Mark’s nerves. “We-well, maybe you don’t like Kissmes,” Mark defended himself. 

“Mark, just ask the question.”

“No, you do it.”

“No, you confessed first.”

“Technically,  _ you  _ confessed first a year ago,” Mark pointed out. 

“You didn’t know that was me, so that doesn’t count.”

"Well, I'm still not doing it-"

“Mark, just ask the question!! Say it in English or something, I don’t care.”

Mark closed his eyes, taking a deep breath before asking, in English, “ _ would you do the honor of… fuck, I forgot the _ \- hey, how do you say boyfriend in English?” he asked Donghyuck in Korean. 

Haechan looked at the camera on the ceiling, acting as if he were in the one American show that he forgot the name again. “You gotta be kidding me.”

“Can you give me just… Haechan, give me five minutes, I need to think-”

“You need to think about being boyfriends?!” Donghyuck screeched. 

“NO! It’s just… let me panic for a moment, I’m about to be with the love of my life,” Mark asked him.

Donghyuck rolled his eyes but nodded, hugging Mark so that their chests could be pressing against each other. He could feel Mark shaking a little, figuring this was part of the panicking, so he Donghyuck let Mark be and ate the long-forgotten candy bar in his hand. 

After a few seconds of the only noise of the room being Donghyuck’s chewing, Mark’s voice interrupted the silence. “Will you be my boyfriend?”

“I thought you’d never ask.” Donghyuck shoved the rest of the candy bar in his mouth and threw the wrapper behind him, holding onto Mark’s neck. “Of course I will, silly, how can I say no to you?”

“In order to say no, you use your words-”

“Mark, shut up and kiss me,” Donghyuck insisted. 

“That’s a Ukiss song, Shut Up-”

“MARK!!”

Mark got on top of Haechan, the latter’s body beneath him, and he pressed a long overdue kiss on his boyfriend’s lips, the two enjoying the newfound silence… which wouldn’t be silent in a few minutes, anyways.

***

Xiaojun removed his head from Kun’s lap. “I don’t think we should be stuck in here any longer.”

Kun looked at him, puzzled. “Wait, why not? We were instructed to be here, anyways.”

“Yeah, but they wouldn’t take this long, I’m assuming.” Xiaojun jumped off the desk, ignoring his headache. The sooner they got out of here, the sooner he could go home and sleep on his boring bed sheets. “Best case scenario, they are in a dilemma and need our help-”

“You shouldn’t be out there though,” Kun reminded him. “You’re hurt.”

“I know  _ that _ .” Xiaojun couldn’t remember which cabinet the two Americans got the knives, so he started opening all of them, finding various art mediums stored. He did manage to find a basket filled with the biggest and thickest scissors he has ever seen. What could they possibly be used for, anyways? “But one thing I am not is pathetic.”

“Don’t go out there to prove a point, it’s perfectly fine for you to want to be safe, that doesn’t make you pathetic,” Kun tried to persuade. “Don’t go out, please.”

Xiaojun grabbed one of the scissors and tried to forcefully break it. “Kun… I can’t just stay here.”

Kun sighed before getting off the desk as well, looking at the pair of scissors in Xiaojun’s hand. “You need to take off the screw,” he said before pulling some drawers, finding a screwdriver in one of them. 

Xiaojun’s eyes widened. “Wait, you’re going?”

“I’m not going to let you get hurt,” Kun stated again. Xiaojun opened his mouth to speak, but Kun lifted up a finger. “And no, I don’t think you’re weak or it’s because I like you, I just think you shouldn’t go alone.”

Xiaojun looked at him in shock, and it took Kun three seconds to realize what he said. “Holy shit, no, I- fuck, no, wait, I should have phrased that better, uh-”

“I, uh-” Xiaojun hastily took the screwdriver from Kun and untightened the scissors, separating the two blades. “I did not expect to hear that in an art classroom while breaking scissors.”

“I had a whole plan, I swear,” Kun said. “And also, we’re being attacked by aliens.”

“Yeah, that’s not what people have in mind when they, uh-” Xiaojun turned to glance at the door. “Let’s just get out of here.”

“I would like that now, yes.”   
  


  
***   
  
“I can’t BELIEVE they’re plan involves us three risking our butts out here,” Johnny said, gripping the knife in his hand until his knuckles turned white. 

“Well,  _ I  _ can’t believe that I’m in charge of babysitting you two,” Doyoung huffed, pulling Johnny’s and Lucas’ ear, the two yelping in pain. “I’m the one who kept advising you two not to do anything stupid.”

“It wasn’t a stupid plan!!” Lucas screeched, writhing away from Doyoung, rubbing his sore ear. “Leave me alone, I just want to go home.”   
  


“You got to admit, Taeyong is pretty smart,” Johnny admitted, leading the two to Mr. Park’s room. “I forgot Chanyeol is apocalyptic crazy.”

“Who the fuck is Chanyeol?” Doyoung asked him, taking the blade out of his belt to point at Johnny. 

Johnny rolled his eyes, pushing Doyoung’s blade down. “Mr. Park? He’s my computer science teacher, he has a vow to destroy C++.”

“Wait, why do you call him Chanyeol?” Lucas asked, confused. 

Johnny sighed. “Because that’s his fucking  _ name? _ I know a lot of teachers who work here before I became a high school student. My mom is friends with a lot of them.”

“So  _ that’s  _ how you pass your class,” Doyoung muttered. 

“I don’t cheat!!” Johnny yelled at him. “And guess what, I was one of the groomsmen at Mr. Park and Mr. Byun’s wedding when I was twelve, beat that.”

“Says the guy who's engaged,” Doyoung reminded him. 

Lucas tapped both of their shoulders. “Uh, guys, look, there’s one of them.”

There was one of the human-looking-like aliens standing in front of Mr. Park’s classroom, banging intently at the metal door. 

Doyoung whistled at the monster. “Yo, bitch, come here fucker!”

“Why would you- DOYOUNG!” Lucas screeched, pointing at the alien who was now sprinting towards them. 

Doyoung stood there calmly as Johnny and Lucas huddled behind them, and right when the alien lunged at Doyoung, arms out to choke him, Doyoung swiftly sliced the creature’s throat, the alien collapsing at the ground, giving him the opportunity to stab it’s chest its before pulling the knife out. 

He cleaned the blade on his dirtied jeans, already used to the green liquid. “Aliens trying to look like realize have no idea how stupid humanity is.” 

“Me when I look at republicans,” Johnny said, reaching into his pockets only to pull out nothing. “Fuck, where is the master key Taeyong gave us?”

Lucas’ eyes widened. “You  _ lost  _ it?!”

“I have it, idiot!” Doyoung took the key out of his pocket and stepped on the alien to walk towards the metal door, ignoring the broken globe next to the lockers; why the alien had it, who knows. “Now remember, grab Mr. Park’s supplies and head out, got it?” he reminded the group as he unlocked the door. “We can’t waste time just standing around.”

Doyoung pocketed the key (if they lost it, they were truly fucked) and pushed open the door, only to drop his knife from his hands when the three of them saw what was going on. 

Mark, the pansy that Johnny and Jaehyun always made fun of, was between Donghyuck’s legs, the two rolling their hips against each other as they passionately kissed. 

Well, looks like someone else was getting fucked indeed. 

Lucas and Johnny covered their eyes, backing away as Doyoung started to yell at the two lovers. “THAT is what you two have been doing the entire time?! Fucking in Mr. Park’s classroom while we are all worried sick about you getting killed by the aliens?!”

Mark and Haechan pulled away from each other, eyes wide at the new intruders. “Woah, what the hell?!” Mark screamed, pulling out of Haechan where they could see his dick-

“Oh my fucking god, HURRY UP, BITCHES!!” Doyoung yelled, covering his eyes. “YOU GOT FIVE SECONDS TO PUT ON CLOTHES ON!!”

The three of them kept their eyes closed as they heard Mark and Haechan hurriedly putting on their clothes, mortified at them being caught. 

“They’re lucky the cameras aren’t working,” Johnny muttered, only to yell when Doyoung slapped them. “Ow, why would you do that?!”

“Now’s not the time for your stupid jokes, Johnny,” Doyoung said. “Are you guys done yet?!”

“Yeah, we’re done.” They opened their eyes to see Mark and Haechan poorly dressed, their hair messed up, clothes wrinkled, still obvious boners present. “There was a serial killer outside-”

“It’s an alien, not a serial killer,” Lucas pointed out. “A lot of them are here around the school and we think Korea might be under attack-”

“Woah, aliens?” Haechan asked, surprised. “No, that guy was trying to murder me-”

“All the aliens have been trying to murder everyone,” Doyoung explained, reaching out to grab Mark and Donghyuck’s wrist. “We have no time to explain but we need to get out of the school  _ now. _ ”

  
  


***

_ “This is Iris Gonzalez reporting in South Korea, where after Texas has reported a state of emergency after a suspected terrorist attack, about three sightings of these men have been reported here in Seoul, the capital of South Korea. It is unknown about the origins of these people, but the mayor has declared a lockdown in the city, where in a ten-mile radius it was reported that there was no internet nor devices working. Lot of parents have voiced their concerns, especially those that didn’t have their children back at home. Here I am with a mother, who- what was your name madam?” _ _   
_ _   
_ _ “Xiao Lei Hua, my child, my son Xiaojun, he was staying after school and I haven’t been able to reach him, I’m really worried, the government has to do something-” _ _   
_ _   
_ \---

“Ma!!” Changbin yelled at his mother, who was in the kitchen cooking. “Auntie says that her and Uncle Seo are not coming today!!”   
  


Changbin’s mother came out of the kitchen, drying her hands. “What do you mean she’s not coming, I made tteokbokki just for her, she knows I don’t like it!”   
  


“No, it’s not that,” Changbin said, shaking his head. “You know the alien attacks they say is going on here in Seoul-”

“That’s just nonsense, it’s just terrorists hurting people, they should be punished,” she said, turning off the stove. “Let me guess, she thinks she’s going to get killed outside.”

“No, there’s a school where a lot of kids were, that’s where cousin Johnny was and she can’t reach him.”   
  
\---

“Now why are you looking angrily at your screen?” Jeonghan told Seungcheol, who was busy typing away on his phone. 

Seungcheol threw his phone at the table in anger. “You know my friend from college, Soonyoung, and how I finally saw him again the other day?”

“Yeah, the one who said he came an astrophysicists at NASA,” Jeonghan said. Seungcheol had told him about when he was in a Korea club in college, where he made a lot of friends with Koreans, Korean-Americans and other Asians in general. Seungcheol changed universities midway through his bachelor's degree, and it was at Columbia where he met Jeonghan where they eventually got married. They moved to Virginia because of Seungcheol’s job, which was a really close ride from DC and it’s how he bumped paths with Soonyoung. “What about it?”

“Well, he went to Korea, right?” Seungcheol explained. “And basically, he was texting me how he thought there were aliens - keep in mind, this is before the reports of the attacks - and he was in Seoul investigating and now he won’t respond!!”

“Seungcheol, eat you lasagna, it’s getting cold.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WAYV AND SVT COMEBACK?!? im going to die
> 
> also i think this book will probably have around 25 chapters? I guess ill know when we reach 20 chaps. there will be a sequel, but it probably wont come out until the end of the year or next year, and it will feature more seventeen people as well (hihi) as well as the other nct ships that we haven't mention (cough cough chenji)


	16. 2’s Company, 3’s a Party, 23 is...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yellow  
i think this fanfic will end up having 25 chapters, maybe 30 if I don't pick up the pace because I'm that lame

Xiaojun and Kun looked down the hallway, making sure no one was present before they left the art classroom. The last thing they needed was to get murdered in the first ten seconds. 

“So we head to the office and hope the others are there,” Kun said, restating the plan. “But the cars don’t work, how are we heading home?”

“Walking is an option, but considering how those things are outside, it’ll be pretty hard,” Xiaojun admitted. “I’m going to buy a horse when I get home.”

“Horses are lovely creatures, but they can get injured so easily,” Kun said. 

Kun stuck out his hand, palm facing up. Xiaojun stared at it for a few seconds, eyes darting from Kun’s face to his hand, before ultimately grabbing onto it. 

“Uh…” Kun’s face turned red. “Um, Xiaojun… I wanted one of the blades that you took apart.”

“Oh, right, I did promise to give those to you,” Xiaojun said, pulling his hand back, embarrassed through the whole ordeal. His brain would alternate between thinking about what Kun said earlier and how the hell they were going to survive from these aliens. 

Xiaojun took out some of the blades and handed it to Kun, not looking at him. “It’s not my fault!” he said, trying to defend himself. “Earlier you practically- uh, never mind.”

He handed the torn blades to Kun, speed walking. “Let’s just try to get to the office quickly.”

“Wait for me!” Kun sprinted quickly to catch up with Xiaojun. “You can grab my hand if you want to.”

Xiaojun could feel heat creep up his neck. “Um-” he held out his hand, hesitated as he held Kun’s hand, the latter entwining their fingers together. “I didn’t expect to hold someone’s hand in on hand and a weapon in the other, especially not after talking about my ex an hour ago.”

Kun hummed. “Well, there’s also aliens, you got to take everything into account.”

“True, true.”

  
  


***

“So you’re saying that there are aliens at this school,” Mark said, summarize Doyoung’s quick thirty second speech as they sprinted to the office (from what he was told, they were all going to go home quickly as a group.) “And- hold on,  _ why  _ do they want to kill us?”

“Humanity  _ is  _ stupid, I wouldn’t put it past them,” Johnny muttered, yelping when Doyoung smacked his head. 

“You’re the stupid one, Johnny.” To Mark, Doyoung said, “we don’t really know, but they emit some type of green liquid and don’t talk, just screech at us.”

Haechan grabbed Mark’s hand and put it around his own waist. “They tried to kill me,” he said, pouting. 

“Yeah, they were clearly killing you when we walked in-”

Mark glared at Johnny. “Shut the fuck up, you have no idea what we went through.”

“Don’t worry, Johnny and Lucas were almost murdered as well,” Doyoung said.

Lucas’ eyes widened in surprise. “That was not my fault-”

“We’re still going to die, aren’t we Mark?” Donghyuck whispered to Mark in secret, the other three arguing about some event and whose fault it was. 

Mark nodded. “Yeah, we probably are.”

They passed the hallway with all the dead alien bodies (with Mark and Haechan being freaked out for a few seconds, wondering how the hell did  _ that  _ happen) when they realized that the two Koreans from America, the NASA workers, were sitting against the lockers, talking to each other softly. 

Doyoung walked back to the hallway, whistling at the two Americans, startling them. “What are you guys doing?”

The two of them spoke at the same time.

“Having a mental breakdown and accepting death.”

“Thinking, which is a rare event- Jihoon, what the fuck.” The taller one looked at the one named Jihoon. “Remember the pizza rolls.”

Jihoon appeared to be in thought for a few seconds before nodding. “Yeah, my bad, I forgot-”

“Oh, I have pizza rolls at my house!” Lucas exclaimed. “The group said we should go since I live the closest to the school.”

“Yeah, we’re all heading to the office, us three went to find these two idiots-” Doyoung said, pointing at Mark and Haechan. The two gave him a dirty look but he ignored them. “What-”

The group heard noises getting louder, like people sprinting towards them, so Doyoung stepped back into the hallway, turning the corner while stabbing the first thing he made contact with. 

Unfortunately, that had been…

Kun. 

Luckily, he stabbed Kun’s arm, not his chest, and Kun and Xiaojun (who was with him as well) just stared at Doyoung in shock along with him, not quite realizing what had just happened until a few seconds later. 

Kun’s eyes widened. “Did you just  _ stab me?!? _ ”

Doyoung let go of the knife, raising his hands in the air. “I swear to god, it was an accident.”

Xiaojun dropped some scissor blades he was holding in one hand, immediately making Kun face him so that he could look at the injury. “Oh my god, Kun-”

“I’m fine, it doesn’t hurt,” he said, trying to calm the latter down. “Although it might be the shock and adrenaline. Give me three minutes to start crying like a bitch or something.”

“Well, looks like we found everyone,” Johnny said, looking back at the two adults. “It was just you six. We should probably head back to the office now before Yangyang starts tearing up the walls.”

  
  


***

“I feel bad about raiding everything in the school,” Renjun said, stuffing the last of the medical supplies they have gotten in the nurse’s room into his bag. “Imagine the teachers when they come here Monday-”

“The school is about to get a big fat check from the government,” Jaemin muttered. “I just want to go home.”

“The worst part is that the actual karaoke only lasted for like five minutes,” Chen Le reminded them. “And that’s the whole reason we came here in the first place.”

Jisung rubbed his hand over the bandages on his arm. “I actually want to go to the hospital,” he said, groaning in pain. “How bad do these burns get?”

“I need to go, too, my nose really hurts,” Renjun said, sneezing. “Ah, fuck.”

“At least we won’t get in trouble for like tearing down the walls or something,” Jaemin said, referencing Yangyang who was spending his time peeling the paint. “We were just trying to survive, the school should get that.”

Jaehyun entered the room, kicking the last remnants of the door being torn from earlier away. “Remember to always have a weapon,” he reminded the group. “We’re going to head to Lucas’s house since he lives the closest.”

“Do you not find it creepy that we’re taking a detour towards the woods, though?” Jeno asked him. “Like… isn’t that where they first attacked Xiaojun?”

“Yeah, but it’s not like they’ll be in the trees, plus everyone will be on the lookout.” Jaehyun grabbed a broken part of the door and smashed it against the glass box on the wall containing the fire extinguisher. “And I’ll kill all those motherfuckers.”

Taeyong came rushing into the room, out of breath. “Good news, they found everyone,” he told the group. “The American Soonyoung has a wound on his arm and Doyoung accidentally stabbed Kun’s arm but they’re okay-”

“Hold on,” Jaehyun interrupted him. “Did you say… Doyoung ‘accidentally’ stabbed…  _ Kun? _ ”

Taeyong shrugged. “They didn’t give me the details.”

“Doyoung’s lethal, got it,” Renjun said, hoisting his bag on his shoulder. “He always scared me.” 

Jeno frowned. “Doyoung isn’t lethal-”

“He stabbed my second  _ mom,  _ Jeno,” Chen Le argued. “He’s lethal!! Kun has never done anything wrong in his life.”

Si Cheng came into the room, a metal pole in his arm. “They’re almost done treating all the injuries,” he informed them. “I think it’s time to go.”

Jaehyun grabbed Taeyong’s hand as a reflex, looking at the rest of the group as he led Taeyong to the door. “Do we have everything?”

“I’m kind of sad the alien invasion of my dreams happened when I was at school doing karaoke but I guess it could be worse.” Jisung grabbed the fire extinguisher that Jaehyun had broken the glass case for. “Jaehyun’s right, we should kill those motherfuckers.”

In a different scenario, Taeyong would have done the usual of correcting Jisung’s language, but to be frank, he also didn’t give a fuck anymore. Everything he had been worrying about these past few weeks, since the end of summer break to the beginning of school, seemed meaningless now, knowing any of them could have almost died in the past few hours. 

What  _ were  _ his worries today? Bringing enough snacks for the meeting (which never happened anyways)? Worrying about what to wear? If Jaehyun was taking him on a date as a joke or not-

He had  _ completely  _ forgotten that he had said yes for going somewhere for dinner with Jaehyun after the 127 meeting today. It was an unspoken fact that clearly that plan was ruined and who  _ knows  _ if they would even get that chance, since a small part of him told him he probably wasn’t going to make it. 

Hopefully they all made it, but 21- no, 23 people surviving all at once? This wasn’t a story with a happy ending in the tag. 

There was no use to be pessimist right now, though. They all needed to think positive and rationally if they wanted to make it. What was that popular saying? Sometimes hope is all you have or something?

He looked down at Jaehyun who had interlocked their hands together. It was really warm, Taeyong noticed, also a bit sweaty since everyone was in panic mode right now. It felt nice, though, if he was honest. Yeah, it felt nice being with Jaehyun. 

Taeyong thought about Jaehyun constantly risking himself in order to not let them get injured, and it brought a smile to his face. Jaehyun really was a good person. 

He watched as the freshmen and sophomores in the Dream unit followed them out of the room, where everyone else was congregated in the office, all in a jittery state. 

“If I die, can you guys promise to serve pizza at my funeral?” Hendery asked everyone in the room.

“Can we all make a new rule?” Taeil said. “No talking about dying. Please. I have a mortgage to pay-”

“You are a seventeen year old Korean male,” Doyoung reminded him. “How can you  _ possibly  _ have a mortgage?”

Taeil glared at him. “My sims game?! The one I was talking about earlier?!”

“If I had a mortgage to pay, I’d rather die,” Si Cheng muttered. 

Taeyong clapped his hands together, bringing the attention to him. “Okay, so, if we remember the plan, it’s that we go out these doors and head to the left, where the forest is at. I know it’s tricky, since that’s where Xiaojun first saw the alien, but it’s better than being out in the open on the road. Plus, the aliens were out there as well, so they’re everywhere, and we have to leave somehow. Everyone agrees?”

All heads in the room nodded, so Taeyong continued. 

“So we go through the forest,” he reiterated. “As Renjun and Yangyang pointed out, there’s a small clearing that we can use to head straight onto Hanyu street, which Lucas’ house is nearby. We head there and hope his parents’ car works, and we all go back home and let the Korean government deal with the rest-”

“This is what they get for forcing unnecessary education standards on us,” Ten said, crossing his arms. “I deserve to get the rest of the year off for this traumatic experience.”

“How the hell is this traumatic for you, you just got engaged, dumb ass,” Hendery yelled at him.

Kun’s eyes widened, turning to look at Ten. “You got  _ what?!” _

“YOU!” Ten pointed at Kun. “For my wedding present I want a toaster-”

“Guys, my YOGURT?!” Si Cheng reminded the group.

“So we go outside through the forest and crash at Lucas’ place, got it,” Jaehyun summarized. “‘Kay? No  _ stupid  _ acts, anyone, this is a life and death situation, and if someone gets hurt by your stupid actions, I will leave you blind-”

“Jaehyun, let’s not go through  _ that  _ extreme,” Taeyong whispered to him. 

Jaehyun cleared his throat. “You will do all my homework for a year-”

“THAT’S NOT FAIR!!” Renjun screamed at him. “I just  _ know  _ Jisung here is going to do something-”

“What do  _ I  _ have to do with anything?!” Jisung yelled. “I am  _ injured,  _ nitwit!! I’m not going to fuck up out there-”

“We’re going to die,” Mark whispered, hugging onto Haechan tightly. “Thanks for being my boyfriend for one day-”

“Damn it, I really wanted to get married,” Johnny said, sighing. “Fuck.”

“Guys,” Taeil piped in. “Do you think they’ll at least cancel school-”

“I WANT TO GO HOME-”

Everyone froze when they heard a loud smacking noise coming from the window. It was Soonyoung, who hit a metal bar on it, shattering the glass. 

Soonyoung stared at all of them silently for a good few seconds. “I don’t know about you guys,” he finally said quietly, trying to calm his anger. “But I did not come to Korea for less than 24 hours only to die later because 21 students can’t do their part in cooperating.”

The students didn’t look away, not wanting to anger him. 

Soonyoung continued. “Now,” he said slowly. “We are going to go out there and go to this guy’s house, and me and Jihoon are going to go straight to Busan because fuck Seoul, and then I’ll go home to nap for a week straight while binge eating bagels, we got that?”

They nodded furiously. 

“Jihoon,” Soonyoung said. “What information did you infer from the aliens, you took some biology classes, right?”

“Not much, but the thing I noticed about him when I asked everyone is that we have yet to see them if they run out of energy,” Jihoon pointed out. He looked at Mark and Haechan, cuddling in the corner. “It was you guys who said that they just pounded on the metal door and screeched, right?"

Mark and Haechan furiously nodded, already thinking about what felt like days to them being trapped but everyone says it was probably less than an hour. The sun was still high up in the sky, for crying out loud.

“They have to get their energy somehow,” Jihoon explained. “So either they have very high endurance and stamina - which might be the case, since they can break wood - or…” he trailed off, not finishing his sentence. 

“Oh god, this is bad news isn’t it-”

“YANGYANG, SHUT THE HELL UP!” Renjun, Doyoung and Yuta shouted in unison. 

Kun waved them off. “Jihoon, just ignore them.”

“Well, I mean it  _ could  _ be bad news or it could make it a bit… easier,” Jihoon tried to explain. “There might be something… giving them that energy, if I explained it correctly.”

“So, something like with Wifi, but with energy instead of the internet,” Mark said. 

Jihoon nodded. “Yes, exactly, there might be a source that gives it to them-”

“Now that’s what I call the government’s problem,” Soonyoung said, grabbing Jihoon’s hand to help him get off the ground. “We should head out.”

“No, no, he’s got a point,” Si Cheng interrupted. “I mean, what are we going to do, let them chase us? They’re not going to get tired, anyways.”

Xiaojun’s eyes widened. “The forest.”

“Wait, what do you mean the forest?” Kun asked him, confused. “What’s in the forest?” 

“You guys-” Xiaojun said, pointing at Soonyoung and Jihoon, “said that you’re coordinates led to the forest next to the school, which must be where they landed when they came to Earth, if there’s something giving them energy, it’s going to be from there.”

“So we’re not going to the forest,” Taeyong concluded.

“No, we have to go!” Xiaojun exclaimed. “If we don’t stop them-”

“That’s what the government is for, they take my taxes then they can do it,” Jaehyun said.

“Xiaojun, you’re injured, it’s not smart,” Kun said more calmly.

“Need I remind you, us guys aren’t going to do shit anyways?” Doyoung reminded the group. “We have, what, bandages and sticks? There’s no way we can fight off a group of aliens.” 

Taeyong bit his lip at the chaos that was forming again. He wasn’t good at managing groups of people, hell, he couldn’t even manage the 127 club. 

This idea of his wasn’t going to work. 

“Guys, just ask Taeyong what he thinks,” Jungwoo told the group. “He’s the president of the school and the 127 unit, he can think of something.”

“Taeyong, please tell these idiots we can’t fight them off,” Doyoung pleaded with him. 

“You killed almost everyone in the hallway!” Johnny argued with Doyoung. “What do you  _ mean  _ we can’t fight them, mind you, no one has died yet?!”

“Taeyong, we have to do it,” Xiaojun said. “Someone’s going to have them fight them off, please, our families are home alone, we can’t endanger them-”

“Can I just go to the hospital, please?!” Jisung yelled. “My arm really burns, it hurts, I just want it to stop-”

“Taeyong, we can fight them off,” Jaemin persuaded him. “We can do it, you always say to believe in us.”

“Taeyong, we have to go home, I’m scared,” Jeno said. “Please, I don’t want to be here anymore.”

All he could hear from everyone was Taeyong, Taeyong, Taeyong over and over, everyone expecting him to make a decision because he was the smart one, he was the leader, the president, the one who could figure things out, the one who can lead them to safety, the one who can help him fight off the aliens, the one who could do it, he was the one, the one, the one-”

He threw the bag he had been wearing with supplies onto the ground in front of him, startling everyone. 

“I’m not the Taeyong that you guys think I am,” he said, tears in his eyes. “I can’t even manage eight of you-”

“Hey, Taeyong, calm down, it’s fine-”

“No, it’s NOT FINE, JAEHYUN!!” Taeyong yelled at him, removing Jaehyun’s grip from his wrist. “Especially you, you have this image of me in your head that’s not  _ true _ , and I’m  _ sick  _ of it!!” 

He slammed his keys and school ID on the desk in the office, glaring at everyone in the room. “I didn’t even want to be leader of 127,” he said angrily. “All the seniors picked me because you guys were too lazy for the role, why are you even in it if you’re going to go against everything I recommend and even doubt it?! All you guys do is be one your phones and complain and whine about wanting to go home and about the guys you like and how much you don’t want to be there, then don’t!! It’s that simple!! I ran for president to bring to change to this school and you guys and the rest of the student body don’t give a flying  _ fuck  _ about anything!!"

He zipped up his jacket and stuffed his hands in his pockets, marching out of the office while Jaehyun tried to pull him back, only for Taeyong to angrily shove him away and sprint out of the office doors and to the outside. 

“Taeyong, don’t go!!” Jaehyun yelled after him, trying to walk out when he felt someone pull him back.

“I’ll deal with him,” Jihoon whispered, running after Taeyong who was marching outside in the open, exposed, not caring anymore if aliens ate him alive. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so we're streaming wayv right? *laughs nervously*


	17. Shut Up!! (Not the Ukiss Song, Mark!)

“TAEYONG!” Jihoon shouted after him, running outside to chase the high school student. “Taeyong, stop running!” 

Taeyong stopped running, standing in the middle of the parking lot, watching Jihoon run up to him. “What do you want?” he asked quite harshly. “Just leave me alone-”

“Look, Taeyong, just- ah shit, I hate being short,” Jihoon mumbled under his breath, thinking for the thousandth time of his life how much he hated himself. If only the orphanage milk wasn’t nasty, maybe he would have grown a few more inches like Soonyoung who was always in the middle of some type of growth spurt. “Taeyong, can you stop running for a second and hear me out?”

Taeyong hastily wiped off the sweat and tears off his face. “Why? You don’t even know me.”

“Maybe not, but… you know, I guess this is the part in movies where the adult says some bullshit wisdom,” Jihoon said. “But just because I’m 26 doesn’t mean I know anything, I don’t even know what I had for breakfast this morning- actually, I think I ate a block of colby- anyways!” He stared at Taeyong, making eye contact with his puffy eyes. “Look, I’m going to assume you felt overwhelmed back there.”

Taeyong nodded. “I just don’t know why they are all wanting me to lead when, I mean, I don’t even know if anything will work, how do I know someone won’t get hurt, it’s just so  _ hard _ , and I can barely lead the club and then there’s aliens to top it off, and I just want to go home and eat ice cream and forget about today.”

Jihoon nodded, he could totally use a bowl of ice cream right now. “Yeah, this whole day sounds like some bad fan fiction story, if I’m honest.”

The two stood in silence for a minute, both momentarily forgetting that there were aliens around the premises trying to kill everybody for some reason, but they were too busy in their own thoughts to think about it. 

“Look, like I said, I’m not really good with wisdom,” Jihoon said. “And I also don’t take advice well, despite my therapist giving me random shit to follow through every week so you might not pay attention to me,  _ but _ … they're not harming you out of malice, just like you, their scared and want to head home and they trust you to do it.”

“But what if I can’t?” Taeyong asked. “I just don’t know why everybody wants _ me  _ to do it."

“It’s not bad for them to want to trust you,” Jihoon explained. “I’m assuming they don’t realize how much pressure they’re giving you. Just- just talk it out to them, maybe they’ll get it-”

They heard someone behind them scream their names, causing the two to turn their heads, surprised to see Jaehyun near the entrance of the door, Soonyoung behind him. 

“I think your boyfriend is worried,” Taeyong told Jihoon. “You should head back.”

Jihoon frowned at him. “Soonyoung is not my- we can barely be friends, plus, you can’t go out there alone.”

Taeyong took a step backward, preparing to run. “I don’t want to put them in danger.”

“You won’t,” Jihoon reassured him. “You guys are a family, I promise you guys are going to be safe.”

Taeyong looked at where Jaehyun and Soonyoung were standing, gulping. “I can’t do it alone.”

_ No one can _ . “Trust me, everyone wants to do what’s best in this situation,” Jihoon said. “You 21 can do it together.”   
  


  
***

“Since me and Taeyong are tired of everyone’s shit,” Doyoung said, slamming a piece of paper on the reception desk, “we’re all going to do a vote. And  _ be  _ serious, please, I know it’s a very Gen Z thing to laugh in the face of death, but the last thing we need is more anxiety in this situation.”

At least three of them in the room wanted to yell boomer at them, but fearing an ass whoopin from Doyoung, plus the fact that Taeyong tried to run out of them, made them hold their tongue. They’ll say it later when they’re getting rescued from the militia and Doyoung legally can not kill them. 

“The important thing is that we all remain safe,” Taeyong said quietly. He still very much wanted to just run out of there and climb into his bed and sleep for the rest of the night, but what ultimately won him over was that he was still worried about the safety of all the students here. “And we have to decide things equally. You can’t be mad and do your own thing because someone went against what you wanted to do.”

Everyone nodded, so he took that as a sign to continue. 

“Now, the most important question right now,” he said. “Do you guys want to head to our homes or… or fight back in the forest?”

Throughout the group, it was easy to see the division even though they weren’t speaking. Those who wanted to fight the aliens were more pumped up, full of energy, not backing down while those who just wanted to sleep and forget about this god awful though looked more scared, terrified of the idea of fighting. 

It was weird to think only one of those things was going to happen. 

“Ten votes or more will mean we will go forward with this decision,” Taeyong said. “But who is in favor of just heading home?”

He counted the hands going on up. One, two, three…

Up to nine. 

_ Nine _ .

Remind Taeyong why he came back here again?

Right when everyone was looking at each other, ready to argue and defend their opinion, Doyoung spoke up. “Hey, we said no fighting guys-”

“It’s just- can’t we go in groups or something?” Jisung said. “My arm really hurts, I don’t think I’m in the position to fight.”

“We can’t split up, remember?” Hendery told him. “We have to be in a group-”

“I just want to beat their asses, if I’m honest,” Yuta muttered. 

Doyoung squinted his eyes at him. “You lunged at them once and then became unconscious-”

“Guys, no arguing,” Taeyong reminded them. The last thing he needed was for everyone to start speaking at each other all at once. 20 plus people in the tiny school office debating on what to do next? Not exactly pleasant. “We’re going to fight back.”

The group quieted down, thankfully, so Taeyong grabbed his bag of supplies that he had dropped earlier and took out a pencil. Why he had it with supplies, no one knew but him. 

He drew some lines on the paper that Doyoung had put on the desk. “So it’s assumed they’re in the forest,” he said, drawing some nicely drawn trees. “Thankfully, it’s not that big and shouldn’t take like hours or something exaggerated to go through it, so if they’re hiding in there somewhere, we’ll be able to find it.” He drew some lines representing roads around the trees. “Also, if I remember google maps correctly, if we ever get lost, we can just run straight in one direction and find a road eventually.”

“How long does it take to travel through it, though?” Chen Le asked. “Like what if we get tired?”

“I don’t think it takes more than half an hour if you go walking,” Haechan said, shrugging. “I go walking in there all the time.”

Mark frowned at him. “We’ve never gone walking there before.”

“Not with  _ you _ , you get scared too easily,” Haechan corrected himself. “And don’t you dare scold at me, I don’t want to hear the ‘I just want you to be safe’ argument.”

Mark, who had opened his mouth to speak, closed it again when Haechan finished. 

“Okay, but how many plans have we done in the past hour and not gone through with them?” Ten said. “If we do one, _ everyone  _ has to stick with it, no matter how dumb you think of it. No one cares about your opinion right now, we’re trying to stay alive.”

“Uh, this is a  _ democracy _ , Ten, not sure if you forgot,” Yangyang said, pointing at him. “We have the right to an opinion-”

“Guys, no fighting,” Doyoung warned them again.

Taeyong just shrugged. He was tired of these damn plans anyway, this wasn’t a test he was trying to study for. No matter how good a plan they make, it all boiled down to everyone’s fight or flight reaction. 

“The plan this time is simple, just head to the forest,” he said. “And kill all the aliens on sight.”   
  


  
***

  
  


By the time the group of 21 students plus 2 adults who managed to get themselves in this situation managed to go outside, it was getting dark. 

Thankfully, they were still able to see, but it was those instances where there was no more sun and nightfall was going to fall in less than half an hour. If Haechan was truly right and going through the forest only took half an hour, if they didn’t waste their time, they should be out by the road during nightfall and be safe. 

Why did the school district choose to put the school building next to a forest again?

Since they  _ were  _ a big group, it was certain that they were going to unintentionally cause some noise, especially since it was so quiet outside. It was Friday, there weren’t going to be people around the school, anyways. 

And since they were going to be making noise, aliens were going to be finding them more quickly. 

There must have been some aliens surrounding the school from any commotion they have made earlier. They have inferred that once an alien sees you, they’re going to remain in that spot until they see or hear you again. Explains why the alien outside Mr. Park’s room, for example, never moved for the hour that it was there. 

The aliens managed to find them, around ten or so. It was uncertain how many aliens existed or if they were multiplying, but one thing was certain, they had to deal with this  _ now _ .

Kun, who has been terrified the entire time and  _ still  _ wants to go home, was the first to notice them, looking back at the school when he saw them. “Guys, there’s some aliens behind us,” he said to the group. He would have pointed but since one arm was around Xiaojun and the other curled around some blades, he couldn’t exactly do that. 

Most of them turned around to see them, with Doyoung, clearly the most fearless one in the group, stepping forward. “So I guess these are going to be gone first.”

“We haven’t even stepped foot in the forest and they’re already chasing us,” Yuta mumbled. God, he should have voted for heading straight home. 

“These bitches really don’t know how to take a no,” Johnny said, cracking his neck. “So do we send one person per alien or everyone at once-”

“I’m not fighting those- those  _ things _ !” Jeno screamed. 

Wrong move on his part. 

Loud noises seemed to provoked the aliens, cause this soon sent them in a frenzy, unintelligible screeching as they ran towards the group. 

Half of them sprinted forward, ready to deal with the bastards, while some stayed back, mainly the younger ones. There was a lot of commotion as to who should do what, people pulling some back while others pushing them forward. 

Mark, one of the sane ones who had voted going home, didn’t want to leave Haechan’s side at all, so when his boyfriend (yes, boyfriend! He couldn’t believe he had gotten a boyfriend during this whole situation) seemed to have no respect for himself and ran forward to kick some alien butt, Mark had no choice but to follow him and make sure he was safe. 

He had been given a knife for the whole ordeal, so when one of the aliens was about to reach for Haechan’s neck, Mark sliced his arms off, ignoring the annoying ass screeching it was emitting while falling on the ground. 

“I know they said no jokes, but can I make a knight in shining armor one right now?” Haechan joked. 

Mark glared at him, pointing the knife at him. “Stop getting in danger-”

“MARK!!” he turned around and saw an alien with a knife in his stomach, falling to the ground to reveal Johnny behind him. “Man, you play a lot.”

“I WASN’T DOING ANYTHING-” Mark screamed at him, only to step backwards, holding onto Haechan’s arm when he saw another alien running up to Johnny. “DUDE, BEHIND YOU-”

Doyoung slain the alien running up to Johnny, green liquid spewing everywhere. “Only you guys would have an argument while we’re fighting, can’t you just shut up for thirty minutes!”

“It’s not that hard to kill aliens,” Haechan said, noticing another one coming up to him. “Look, I can get that one easily-”

“Donghyuck, no-”

Haechan stabbed the alien with both blades in hand, piercing his chest. “See?? Easy!!”

The green blood thingy was really sticky, almost like Mark’s cum from earlier- oh, right, he forgot they fucked earlier. Wait, first he lost his virginity and now he was killing aliens?! What an eventful day it was. 

His ass still kind of hurt, but that was a convo for another day. If they lived to see it, that is. 

“Clearly, we need to stop playing video games,” Mark said, grabbing Haechan’s hand. He looked around, seeing no more aliens attack them. “Well, that was actually easy-”

“Cause, like, ten of us ran to fight them,” Yuta said. “Do the math, idiot.”

“Don’t you mean Chittaphon ran?” Yangyang said, laughing at his own joke. “Get it?! Chittaphon-”

“Yangyang,” Ten said with a smile. “Don’t you forget all of us have knives here?”

Renjun raised the blade and syringe with acid in his hands. “Finally, someone who speaks my language.”

“All this killing is getting into everyone’s head,” Jaehyun said. “Guys, let’s head back to the forest-”

“Uh, Jaehyun?” Lucas said, pointing to something in the distance behind the school. “We might want to hurry, there’s more of them coming.”

“These aliens really don’t want me to have my FUCKING YOGURT!!!” Si Cheng screamed, provoking them again.

“Babe, let’s not scream at them- ah, fuck, they’re coming, they’re coming!!” Yuta shrieked, grabbing Si Cheng’s hand and pulling him away. He didn’t want to fight anymore, he realized. 

“Now would be a GOOD TIME FOR A GUN!!” Hendery yelled, hiding behind Yangyang. “Do something-”

“Guys, just head to the forest!!” Taeyong shouted at the whole group, grabbing Chen Le and Jisung’s hands. “Go, go ,go!!”

  
  


***

When Taeyong said to run to the forest, that  _ was  _ what Jihoon was planning. 

However, despite being the second-oldest (curse Soonyoung for being older than him) of the group of whatever amount of people there were, you have to remember that he was, well… 

The shortest. 

Luckily, this aided a lot during combat (combat, wow, he was doing  _ combat _ now?!?! Ha! This must count as practice for kickboxing class, am I right? At least exercise or something). He was able to dodge lunges from the aliens quickly and slice their stomachs, so he had not been harmed during the whole experience. 

Unluckily, with all the running this group was doing, this was proving to be a disadvantage. 

Jihoon, for one, had never been athletic  _ ever  _ in his entire life. He didn’t participate during gym class in high school, he has never participated in  _ any  _ curriculars during high school or college, and he  _ certainly  _ didn’t listen to any advice of exercise when it came to his therapists. Yes, he put effort in whatever else he suggested to get rid of fatigue or not, but the most exercise Jihoon would do was rushing to the frozen food aisle to get the forgotten pizza rolls or dance to 2.5 music videos in his living room before getting bored and stuffing his mouth with muffins. 

So, no, he didn’t exercise much. 

He had been getting extremely tired this whole day, and you have to remember that he came to this woods to find the coordinates right after work which is when they were dragged to this whole alien mess. He was CRANKY and he wanted a nap!

His legs were giving out, trembling the entire they had been outside. He had been thankful for the adrenaline flowing in his blood, however, keeping him more awake than he should have been, but this was a dangerous situation when the group headed into the forest, filled with bumpy grounds, broken branches, and animals hidden everywhere, causing him to do the unfortunate seen in every cliche action and horror movie. 

He  _ tripped _ .

Despite running with knives, he thankfully managed to not impale himself, dropping it when he fell, but he landed on the ground with a loud thunk, scraping his palms and hurting his head in the process. Plus, there was a sudden intake of pain coming from his ankle that he just wanted to cry out in pain. 

He screamed when he fell, disoriented for a couple of seconds, looking behind him. He had tripped on a large branch, and now he was apart from the group, with a close to zero chance of being able to get up, with a large number of aliens running behind him. 

Jihoon tried to crawl away from the path, whimpering in pain, when he saw that Soonyoung, who must have noticed him missing, ran back to get him. 

“Oh, no, Jihoon!” Soonyoung yelled, dashing towards him. It looked like he was the only one in the group to have noticed that Jihoon had fallen behind, since they had been at the very end. “Don’t worry, I’m coming-”

“Soonyoung, no, go with them, please- ow!” he cried out, clutching his sprained ankle. “Ah, fuck!”

Soonyoung wrapped his arms around Jihoon’s waist, lifting him up. He always scolded him for being so light but he was thankful of that for this one time. “Hey, I got you, I’m not leaving you behind, don’t say that again, it’s a cliche-”

“Soonyoung, stop talking and get us out of here!!” 

“Right, right!” Soonyoung spun in a quick circle, trying to find a hiding place when he noticed some fallen tree trunks, running towards them and setting Jihoon down first. “Get in, quick.”

Jihoon, despite his pained hands, crawled in the tight space, with Soonyoung getting in after them. They had to have their necks craned and were squeezed in, but it thankfully provided them a place of shelters.

The aliens soon caught up to them, scrambling to try to get ahold of them. It was a good thing they didn’t have brains to try to remove the tree trunks, Soonyoung said, though the fact that they could break wood was making him worried. 

He cut off any arms of those reaching into the opening, getting disgusted at the green liquid falling on his face, but he managed to kill all the aliens that had crowded in their space.

They heard more noises outside, though, so Soonyoung covered Jihoon’s mouth, the two refusing to speak, realizing that they were going to be stuck there the entire night. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i was hearing ukiss lol (curse you, fanfic mark lee)  
also?? nct and svt comebacks at the same time??? amazing!!


	18. It's Getting Dark

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry i recently got a job and i got depressed for a while, sorry for the late update

Yogurt is one of the best frozen treats in the world, in Si Cheng’s opinion. 

He had a lot of yogurt in his house. None of that boring stuff (though he always had vanilla, as it was an important base for deserts) but he was a big fan of the yo crunch yogurts that had candy in packages that you could stir it in the yogurt, like oreo, snickers, M&Ms, you name it. All delicious flavors. He was also a fan of peach yogurt and putting various fruits in it, sometimes even freezing it as a homemade ice cream of sorts, which is what he did this afternoon before coming back to school to watch the movie for the wayv meeting. 

As you can tell, due to unfortunate circumstances, Si Cheng has not been able to go back home and eat his yogurt, and this was making him very,  _ very  _ mad. 

The group was walking deep into the forest and Si Cheng stomped dramatically the entire time, dangerous blades in his hands. Why did he have to fight aliens again? Why couldn’t Korea deal with it? They always made fun of him for being Chinese, well, they certainly didn’t deserve any help from him. Half of the group wasn’t Korean anyways. He just wanted to go home and eat his yogurt for crying out loud"

“Uh, Si Cheng, you’re going to accidentally stab someone if you keep swinging- uh-” Yuta stopped when he noticed Si Cheng giving him a death glare. “Nevermind, keep doing what you’re doing, babe.”

Si Cheng rolled his eyes at the guy who’s been his boyfriend for, like, half an hour. Certainly not the confession he had been daydreaming for a while now, but you can’t really be picky when you’re about to die. “Why do you even call me babe?” he asked Yuta, crossing his arms across his chest. “I’m taller than you.”

“If I were one inch shorter I would be made fun of like Ten and Taeil,” Yuta agreed. “‘Kay, what terms of endearment do you prefer?”

“Uh, my nickname?” Si Cheng reminded him. “You better not be calling me any weird shit-”

“Can you guys be quiet?” Mark hushed both of them. He was walking behind Yuta, his arms wrapped around Haechan. “I plan to live at least one more day with Donghyuck here-”

“Yo, you finally asked him out, I’m proud of you,” Yuta said, reaching out his hand to high five Mark. “I  _ told  _ you that Haechan liked you.”

Haechan frowned. “Wait, how did you know?”

“It was kind of obvious,” Yuta explained. “Y’all don’t act slick in the 127 meetings with all your lovestruck eyes and-”

“Yes, thank you for reminding me that I’m an idiot,” Mark interrupted him, pulling Haechan away from Yuta and Si Cheng. “Everyone here is fucking stupid-”

“Guys, stop,” Taeyong announced to the whole group, everyone immediately stopping in their tracks. “Where’s…” he looked around as if trying to find someone. “Oh no.”   
  


Si Cheng did not like how that oh no sounded. It was getting darker here in the woods with each passing second and he just wanted to eat his fucking yogurt-

“Why did we stop, can we go now?” Hendery whined. “I want to  _ go _ -”

“Where did the two Americans go?” Renjun asked. “They’re gone.”

“Exactly,” Taeyong agreed. “Where are they?”

Jisung grabbed Chen Le and picked him up, ignoring the latter asking him what the fuck. “Welp, that’s it, time to make a run for it-”

“Do you think the aliens got them?” Ten asked, surprised. “I thought Yangyang would be the first to die-”

“I’M NOT GOING TO DIE,  _ YOU’RE  _ GOING TO DIE-”

It was safe to say that Si Cheng was never going to taste his sweet, sweet yogurt again. “They’re probably not dead, idiots, they would have screamed if they were killed!” He shouted. “They probably left our stupid asses!”

Taeil sat down on the floor of the forest. “I’m going to take a nap, wake me up when you guys are done-”

“No the fuck you aren’t.” Doyoung grabbed Taeil’s wrist and pulled him back up again. “Just someone go get them! It’s not that hard, this isn’t linear algebra-”

“Unfortunately,” Kun muttered under his breath. 

“I thought we weren’t going to separate,” Lucas reminded Doyoung. “And it’s getting dark-”

“Ah, Jesus christ,  _ I’ll  _ go!” Si Cheng yelled, turning around and marching away. Aren’t most scientists supposed to be smart? Why did those two leave anyway?

He heard Yuta shout behind him, but Si Cheng didn’t care, he wanted his fucking yogurt  _ now _ .

  
  


***

It was really hard to check out Jihoon’s injured ankle in the cramped space that they currently found themselves in, but the last thing Soonyoung wanted was for his injury to get worse, so they had to manage. 

“Can you try to criss cross your legs?” Soonyoung asked him. “I can’t really bend forward to reach your ankle.”

“Don’t try to flex your height right now,” Jihoon mumbled before trying to get into a criss cross position. “ _ Fuck-  _ this hurts, Soonyoung-”

“Come on, you can do it.” Soonyoung extended his arm out to pull Jihoon’s leg closer to him, instantly regretting it when he heard the latter whimper. “Ah, shit, well, maybe we can wait a little."

They said nothing after that, remaining quiet as they heard more noise outside, probably from aliens roaming around. Soonyoung had tried to kill any that came close to their hiding spot and doesn’t know if it was all of them, but he wasn’t about to be a stupid main character in a horror movie and check out the noises outside. 

He ripped off the bottom of his shirt, using the blade to hastily cut it off, and used it to tie around Jihoon’s ankle. “I really should have taken more science classes in college,” he said, trying to lighten the mood. 

It only resulted in proving how dumb he was. “Soonyoung, you have a master’s in astrophysics,” Jihoon reminded him. 

“That’s not what I meant and you know it- HOLY SHIT, I’M SO-”

Soonyoung had tightened the piece of cloth a bit too tight, making Jihoon wince again. However, Jihoon shut him up, clamping his hand over the latter’s mouth. “What part of ‘there are aliens outside’ do you not understand?!”

“Sorry, sorry, I’m just trying not to hurt you,” Soonyoung admitted. 

He tied it slowly, adding pressure bit by bit until he saw Jihoon get uncomfortable again. “I think that should handle it,” he said. “Hope you don’t have any broken bones, though. I’ll just carry you for now.”

Jihoon rolled his eyes. “Soonyoung, we’re trapped.” 

“Point taken,” Soonyoung said. “But we have to get out of here eventually.”

“I’d rather be here until I die,” Jihoon said, scooting forward so that he could lie down, placing his hands under his head. “Goodnight, it was nice knowing you-”

“We’re  _ not  _ going to die,” Soonyoung said. “Not when aliens are finally confirmed! This is no time jokes-”

“Fuck them aliens, they’re the reason why I’m here in the first place.” Jihoon closed his eyes. “Bye.”

Soonyoung scooted towards the front at the tight front opening, slowly getting out of the hiding spot. “I’m going to get us out of here,” he said, grabbing his blade. “I refuse to die until I get my Yuri on Ice movie.” 

“Fuck ice and skating, I hate sports,” Jihoon mumbled, before opening his eyes after realizing Soonyoung’s statement. “What do you  _ mean  _ you’re getting us out of- SOONYOUNG!”

Soonyoung, who had gotten out, grabbed Jihoon’s legs and pulled his body out. “Come on, let those kids pretend they’re on Mortal Kombat, I’m taking you to the nearby hospital.”

“You have a stab wound on your arm and I don’t see  _ you  _ getting emergency services for that,” Jihoon muttered under his breath, crossing his arms as Soonyoung pulled him out. “I can’t even die in peace now.”

“It’s because we’re obviously on our phones all the time, according to boomer logic,” Soonyoung said. He managed to get Jihoon out, helping him sit up. “I just realized that we are in Seoul and don’t know the closest direction to any hospital.”

Jihoon shrugged. “Soonyoung, it’s a sprained ankle, we don't need a hospital-"

“NONSENSE! We are getting you out of here.” Soonyoung grabbed Jihoon into his arms and lifted him up, ignoring Jihoon’s death threats. “Now come on, let’s go find a street and get out of here.’   
  
***

If you asked Haechan if he was scared about this whole situation, the honest answer would be yes. 

However, Haechan doesn’t like to think of himself as a coward. Obviously, there are some exceptions of him clearly not being brave, like talking to his parents or confessing to Mark. (Glad one of those things is behind him.) So, he always tries to find the positive of every situation and make the best of it. 

For example, what good things have happened today? Well, for one, he found out that he passed an exam last week. He had eaten a good amount of snacks today. The love of his life is now his one and only. Oh, and he’s fighting aliens! That’s a good thing, right? This opportunity only comes once in a lifetime. 

Though it was a  _ tad  _ bit difficult, to say the least. Some people here were injured, and some of them were stupid so he  _ knew  _ he was going to get killed. Those were goals, though, the homies all getting killed together. 

Who was he kidding, if one of them died, he wasn’t going to be able to handle it. 

That’s why, when he heard that the two Americans were gone, even though he didn't even know their names, he ran after Si Cheng in order to help him find them. Horrific deaths were not on their to-do list today, no, only to make mac and cheese, try to get his parents to talk to him for once, and to find shoes online for homecoming. 

“Winwin, wait for  _ me!! _ ” Haechan yelled, running after Si Cheng. “I’ll help-”

“Don’t go!” He felt Mark grab his wrist, pulling him back. “You can’t get hurt, Hyuck.”

Haechan tried to get out of Mark’s grasp, failing miserably. “We have to help! They could be in danger-”

“I know, but you can’t go alone,” Mark said, the two watching how in the distance Yuta was hugging Si Cheng from behind, pushing him back to where the group was. “We’ll think of something, I promise.”

Haechan pouted but didn’t say anything else. Blame it on Mark to be overprotective all the time.  _ Totally  _ a different vibe than from his parents, who never cared about him in the first place. 

Jeno came up next to Mark, tapping him on the shoulder as the others in the group were “talking” (mainly arguing) with one another. “Uh, Mark, I think we have a problem,” Jeno whispered. 

Mark, who still hasn’t let go of Haechan’s hand, not trusting him, turned around to face Jeno. “Why, what’s going on?” he asked the younger.

Jeno pointed at Renjun beside him, who was currently in a coughing fit while Jaemin patted his back. “I think something’s wrong with Renjun,” he said. “I don’t like seeing him like this-”

Renjun, who overheard Jeno, spoke up between the fits. “I said I’m fine, Jeno- ack.” Renjun covered his mouth again, coughing one last time. “I want to beat up the aliens.” 

“Oh, Jesus, HELLO BOOMERS!! CAN WE GO NOW?!?!” Mark screamed at the whole group. “HURRY UP-”

Ten came next to Mark and covered his mouth. “Idiot, don’t you see we can’t make noise?!” he harshly whispered at him. 

Mark frowned. “Like you guys aren’t arguing with one another-”

"I ALREADY SAID I'M NOT A BOOMER!!" Johnny yelled, despite his boyfriend telling Mark to shut up five seconds before. 

“I got Si Cheng back,” Yuta said, a struggling Si Cheng in his arms. “We can continue.”

“I’m going to break up with you RIGHT THIS SECOND if you don’t let go of me!!” Si Cheng yelled at him. 

“I don’t care!! I love you too much for you to be in danger!” Yuta shouted back to him. “You have to survive if you want your yogurt-”

“Yeah, let’s get a move on,” Jaehyun muttered. “Let’s continue walking, guys, it’s getting dark-”

“If I hear that stupid ass phrase ONE MORE TIME, JAEHYUN-”

“DAMN, DOYOUNG, EXCUSE ME FOR POINTING OUT THE OBVIOUS TO THESE IDIOTS-”

Yangyang pouted. “I’m  _ not  _ an idiot-”

“Uh, Mark,” Jeno said again, tapping on his shoulder. “Can I tell you something else as well?”

“Is Renjun okay?” Mark asked him. 

“Uh… I think, but I was talking about those aliens over there heading towards us,” Jeno said, pointing in front of them in the direction they had been going. “Look, I think they’re trying to- oh no-”

“Guys, GUYS, WE HAVE TO MOVE IT, PEOPLE!” Mark yelled, tugging Haechan along with him to run to the right where there was a road nearby. “GUYS-”

“Mark, what happened to not separating?!” Haechan yelled at him. “MARK-”

Some headed towards the aliens, weapons out, as others followed Mark and Haechan somewhere else, the group being split into two. 

  
  


***   
  
  


Xiaojun had no idea how to tell the group that he felt like he was going to pass out. 

There was always some type of commotion going on, and even though he wasn’t the only one with injuries, everyone else seemed to handle it pretty well, including Kun who had been stabbed earlier on accident. Either Kun had no pain receptors in his body or he had a really high pain tolerance, because he had not complained about the incident once. 

So of course, Xiaojun wasn’t going to say anything about his dizziness either. 

It was getting really hard, though. His vision was getting blurred and he had a pounding headache, but he didn’t want to worry anyone so he kept his mouth shut and continued walking. Kun must have sensed his discomfort, however, since he put his hand around him to help him stand up. It worked for a little bit but Xiaojun felt like collapsing any second now. 

He was really dizzy; twice he bumped into a tree and he’s been tripping over branches, but he’s handling it better than how he thought he would. Barely. 

But these are NCT students, after all, so when they resulted in a commotion again and now the threats of aliens running at them again (they may have been fun for some people but Xiaojun was beaten up before he knew, which burned out any enthusiasm he would have had), Xiaojun knew he was going to die.

“We have to go,” Kun said, grabbing his hand so that they could follow Mark, who Ten once dubbed the biggest coward between everyone. “Let’s run-”

“I can’t run,” Xiaojun whispered, tears pooling in his eyes. “I want to go home-”

“We’ll get you home,” Kun reassured him. “Come on-”

“No, I-” Xiaojun fell on his knees to the ground, where black dots were forming in his vision. “I can’t-”

Kun lifted him up in his arms, taking one last look at the aliens running towards them, and followed where Mark and Haechan had run, along with Chen Le, Jisung and Jeno. “Where the fuck is Mark even going,” he muttered under his breath before chasing after him. 

Xiaojun didn’t want Kun to carry him, knowing it wasn’t good for the latter, as he had been stabbed in the shoulder earlier and it was surely going to reopen some wounds. However, his head was getting heavier and the thoughts of home filled his head, he just wanted to go home-

He thought of his old house back in China, where everything was okay, before being outed in school, before the incident with Zhangwei, before his grades dropped, before his father cheated on his mother. Why did everything have to change? What was so bad about his life before? Why can’t we remain happy throughout our lives?

He thought of his movie, back in that tiny house right now, away from everyone she knew in China with only her sister here in Korea. Xiaojun surely was going to die any second now, so his mother would have lost both her husband and her son in one year. Hopefully she remained happy, Xiaojun thought, and was thankfully out of this whole alien mess; she deserved a lot more. 

Xiaojun’s vision was getting as dark as the sky, and it eventually turned black, his body going limp in Kun’s arms. 

***

The group was separating. 

The 21 of them were separating, and there was nothing Taeyong could do about it. 

There was nothing Taeyong could really do, and as much as he really wanted to follow the others running away, he knew that he needed to help the others fight, as he couldn’t risk any other injuries to occur, or worse, death. 

So, Taeyong bit his lip, not caring of the blood he could hear flowing out, and ran with the others to help fight. 

Despite making a shit ton of plans today (yes, he didn’t care about his language anymore), he just couldn’t come up with one when it came to combat. He’s never played video games or watched many action movies, though he  _ did  _ study a bit of martial arts a bit, but that was more for… how would you say this, defending against a bad person, not aliens attacking the human race. 

Taeyong tried to remember his martial arts training, any rare fighting television scenes he had seen and fights between Yuta and Johnny when they were supposed to be working and did his best to fight against the aliens. 

His hand held the blade unsteady as his eyes darted back and forth between the creatures running towards them and those in their group willing to fight. This wasn’t safe, this wasn’t safe, this wasn’t  _ safe _ -

But Taeyong knew that they had to fight back, so he tightened his grip on his blade, raised it above his head, and charged at the first alien that he saw, knowing that if one of them god, he will make god fear him back. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i think this story will end around 25 chapters, more or less! there will be a sequel but it will take a while, i'm waiting on a certain event and i can't spill about it :D


	19. Horror Movie Cliches

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry for the late updates, a lot of stuff has been going on in my, but im really trying to catch up
> 
> also! Im changing the fic series name when i publish chapter 20, i think nct heroes is pretty boring, the new one is slightly LESS boring (i think)

Soonyoung was carrying Jihoon in his arms deep in the forest, trying to not make any sound in order to prevent any aliens finding out their location. 

Jihoon really wanted to protest against being carried, but his ankle really did hurt and he knew that he wouldn’t be able to walk, so he was stuck being helpless, just like always. 

Plus, there was the fact that if they argued, aliens would come over and they would die. Which is supposed to be unfortunate. 

“I think this is God telling us that we never should've majored in astrophysics,” Jihoon said, looking around. (There’s not much you can do while being carried by someone, after all.) “We should have done something boring like economics and be done with it.”

“Man, fuck social studies,” Soonyoung said, lifting Jihoon up higher. He was thankful to have done sports in high school. “No, maybe this is a sign saying that it was a  _ good  _ thing we took astrophysics.”

Jihoon swung his foot a bit, being careful not to hit Soonyoung. “Still weird how we majored in the same thing despite not talking to each other for over six years.”

Soonyoung shrugged. “Well, I don’t blame you for unfriending me on facebook, I did become a jerk to you in high school,” he said.

“I know it’s not your fault, I was pretty boring back then, I guess- wait.” Jihoon frowned, fully processing Soonyoung’s words. “ _ I  _ unfriended you on Facebook?”

“Yeah, it’s why we stopped talking, remember?” Soonyoung said. “And you’re not boring, we talked about this.”

Jihoon wanted to prove Soonyoung wrong about how boring he was, but he was still confused about the Facebook thing. “I never unfriended you on Facebook,” he said. “You unfriended  _ me _ . I was happy seeing your upcoming graduation and college plans with your friends, I always liked every post.”

“Maybe Facebook glitched or something,” Soonyoung said. “Or maybe I was hacked? I don’t know, I would have never unfriended you on purpose,” he said. “Only my mom has my Facebook password anyways-”

Soonyoung stopped walking abruptly, startling Jihoon. “Do you hear that?” he asked him. 

Jihoon stared at his surroundings, despite it almost being dark and him not being able to fucking see. “I can’t see anything nor can I hear anything,” he said. “What do  _ you  _ hear?”

Soonyoung didn’t say anything, straining to hear whatever sound he heard the first time again, so Jihoon tapped his arm. “Hoshi, put me down-”

“No,” Soonyoung said, hugging Jihoon tighter to his chest. “I don’t… I don't think it's safe here.”

“Obviously not, there’s fucking aliens infested here,” Jihoon said. He sighed, going limp in Soonyoung’s arms. “Well, clearly I’m not going to survive to have any bagel bite again.:

Soonyoung started walking a bit faster, hugging Jihoon tightly so as to not let go. “We have to get out of here,” he said, dashing the opposite way from where they were going. “We need to leave-”

“KWON SOONYOUNG, IF YOU DON’T FUCKING PUT ME DOWN-” Jihoon yelled in English, trying to kick Soonyoung with his ankle (the unharmed one, he’s not a masochist on purpose - he thinks). “I SWEAR TO GOD IF YOU DON’T PUT ME DOWN-”

Jihoon felt Soonyoung’s hand cover his mouth, and before he could react, he could hear some screeching sounds. 

“I don’t know if those are the aliens or the teenagers being really extra,” Soonyoung said as he continued to speed walk away from there (he would have ran, but since he was carrying Jihoon, he had to be careful; if Soonyoung fell, they were both screwed.) “But that’s our queue to  _ leave _ .”

“The fact that you  _ know  _ there are aliens and yet you think the teens are being extra makes me wonder if you know what comes out of your mouth,” Jihoon said.

“Hey, if I were a young rebel out to destroy society and wear heelys in the hallway, I would absolutely be extra in the face of death,” Soonyoung said. “Now let’s get out of this stupid forest.”   
  


***

  
  


Seven of them, consisting of Mark, Haechan, Jeno, Jisung, Chen Le, Kun and Xiaojun, found themselves on a side of the road after having ran away from the commotion, the five of them panting for breath.

Well, only six of them, since Xiaojun was unconscious in Kun’s arms.

Haechan was the first one to speak up, forcefully removing his hand from Mark’s grip. “Why the fuck did you drag me here?!” he yelled at him. “We just left the others in danger!!”

“Haechan, all of us are in danger!!” Mark yelled back at him. “I’m just trying to keep us safe!”

“So??” Haechan screamed. 

“Woah, their first fight as boyfriends,” Jisung whispered, only letting the others here. 

Jeno frowned. “But yesterday they argued about whether Ukiss or Marina and the Diamonds were better.”

“They weren’t  _ dating  _ yesterday,” Jisung reminded them.    
  


“Can you guys argue some other time?” Kun yelled at Mark and Haechan. “Who cares who did what, blame the adrenaline, now we  _ need  _ to find a hospital.”

“He looks dead,” Jisung said, staring at the very pale Xiaojun. “Didn’t he lose blood earlier?”

Chen Le pointed at Kun’s shoulder. “Is that  _ his  _ blood?? How much blood did Xiaojun lose?”

“No, that’s my blood, I got stabbed,” Kun said nonchalantly. 

“Oh, so you’re just going to forget that part while looking for a hospital,” Mark said sarcastically. 

Haechan looked around the road. The sun was going to set in a few minutes, if he calculated it correctly, and since they were surrounded by trees, there weren’t any streetlights. “Why don’t we just stay here and wait for a car to come?” he told the group. “There’s always cars passing by here when I take walks alone.”

“We can’t wait, he’s  _ unconscious! _ ” Kun shouted, trying to lift up Xiaojun higher. Damn, he really should have done sports, his arms were weak as fuck. “Do any of you have O negative blood?”

“I don’t think I have blood,” Chen Le said. 

“My arms do burn a lot,” Jisung said, staring at his arms. “But how far away is the nearest hospital? Do we even  _ know  _ any hospitals around here?”

Jeno hugged Chen Le from behind, his arms shaking. He missed his mom, he wanted to go back home and see her. “Can’t we walk to find a car?” he asked, his voice trembling. “I don’t want to be around those aliens anymore.”

The group all looked at each other in silence, not knowing what to do. 

“Like half of us are injured,” Mark pointed out, “so it’s best if we find help as soon as possible, we can’t really wait.”

Haechan crossed his arms. He was still mad Mark dragged him away from all the action, but some of them  _ were  _ injured, and it would be selfish to not help them get aid. Plus, knowing Mark, he was going to give Haechan a bullshit excuse like he couldn’t lose him or some shit. “We should come back afterwards, though,” he said. “To go help the others.”

Chen Le grabbed Jeno’s hands and wrapped them closer to his stomach. “So we walk?” he asked tentatively.

Kun stepped onto the road, walking forward. “We walk.”

***

Taeyong was really tired, but like  _ really  _ tired. 

There weren’t any more aliens that he could see in the meantime, but it was a mess; the whole group was scrambled. A couple of people appeared to be missing and with the huge number of people here, it was hard to see who was gone. 

He leaned against a tear, eyes shut as he took deep breaths, dropping his knife to the floor. His calves were cramping and he felt something slice his face earlier, blood trickling down his face. 

Taeyong slid down on the floor, eyes opening a bit. The group appeared to be arguing with each other again, some looking for the others who went missing. He heard bits and pieces here and there, but his heart was thumping too loud for him to make out anything in particular. 

He heard someone walk to his left, so he turned his head to see Jaehyun, who was staring at him wide-eyed. 

“Are you okay?” Taeyong croaked out, still struggling for air. He was really worn out and he felt like he was going to collapse any second now. 

Jaehyun nodded rapidly. “I’m fine, yeah, um-” he scratched the back of his neck, and Taeyong wasn’t sure if Jaehyun was turning red or not, since it was really close to getting dark in a few minutes. “You just… you just fight good.”

Taeyong raised his eyes at Jaehyun’s statement. “Um- not really,” he said, though he couldn’t help but grin a little. “I mean, I studied martial arts for a bit.”

“That’s- oh god, that’s actually  _ really  _ impressive,” Jaehyun said. “No wonder you’re good, meanwhile, I get stabbed like three times-”

Taeyong leapt up from his spot on the ground, running towards Jaehyun instantly. “You got  _ stabbed _ ?!?!”

“No, I mean- hey, don’t worry, I was just exaggerating,” Jaehyun said, holding Taeyong away from him. “Really.”

“You- you shouldn’t joke about that,” Taeyong mumbled, looking away in embarrassment. He didn’t know Jaehyun was joking. 

“Yeah, I only got stabbed twice,” Jaehyun said, extending out his leg. There was a big red stain on his lower left leg, part of the jeans torn. “It doesn’t really hurt-”

“JAEHYUN!” Taeyong got down on his knees in front of Jaehyun, rolling up his jeans where he could see his wound. “Oh no, it’s really dirty, you have to clean it or it’s going to get infected-”

“I’m  _ fine _ ,” Jaehyun said, only to get ignored by Taeyong as the latter got up to make him sit down. “Taeyong, I’m really fine-”

Taeyong slipped off the backpack he had had on and unzipped it, pulling out the first aid kit that he had stuffed in there. “There should be rubbing alcohol in here, I’m not sure if there’s gauze, a lot of us have been using it-”

“I mean, I’m sure if I tie a shirt around it, it’ll be okay,” Jaehyun said jokingly. (Well, his tone was in a joking manner, but he was pretty sure it would be alright if he just pressed a shirt against the wound.) “I mean, at least it’s not as bad as the one on my arm-”

As soon as Jaehyun said that, he regretted it; Taeyong looked up to him with such a worried look in his eyes that instantly made him feel guilty. 

Now, the one in his arm  _ was  _ aching pretty bad, but Taeyong didn’t need to know that. “I’m just kidding,” he said, bringing his leg closer to him to look at. “I can take care of it, go check out the others, I think they said something like Chen Le and Jisung were missing?”

Taeyong didn’t say anything as he lifted up Jaehyun’s arm, exposing his tricep. It was indeed worst than his calf; the skin was pictured, and the blood oozing out of it wasn’t all red, it was mixed with- 

Green. 

“Why is this- why is there green in here?” Taeyong said, frowning. He ripped off a piece of shirt, ignoring Jaehyun’s protests of that not being really necessary, and dabbed it at the wound, staring at the green liquid mixed with the blood in disgust. 

“Looks like their blood,” Jaehyun commented, thinking of how the aliens spilled a similar substance when they were slain. “That’s actually  _ really  _ weird-”

Taeyong dug through the bag until he pulled out a bottle of alcohol, Jaehyun instantly grimaced. Curse alcohol getting rid of infections. “Some of their own blood must've gotten on you with your wound since it’s open,” he said, dabbing some of the liquid on a cotton pad. “We have to clean it and then disinfect it-”

“What about your face?” Jaehyun asked, watching as Taeyong wiped away as much blood as possible with the torn part of his shirt. “You’re hurting too-  _ HOLY  _ fuck-”

Taeyong pulled the alcohol-infused cotton pad away from his arm. “Sorry,” he said.

Jaehyun gritted his teeth for a few seconds, forcing himself not to scream. God, how he always hated rubbing alcohol. “I’d rather  _ drink  _ alcohol then put it on me,” he muttered. “You know what, just let me bleed to death.”

Ignoring the latter being dramatic (being the leader of the 127 unit here at school teaches you a lot of things), Taeyong held out the cotton pad to Jaehyun. “You can do it if you want, I know it hurts.” He wiped his forehead with his sleeve, feeling how a mixture of blood and sweat smeared over the side of his face. 

“Your eyebrow.” Jaehyun pressed a finger against Taeyong’s eyebrow, which was indeed bleeding. Something appeared to have sliced it, a long straight line going through it. “Doesn’t that hurt-”

“Are you two going to keep flirting with each other?!” Jaehyun and Taeyong both turned around to see Doyoung. “Do you not realize they’re like seven people missing?”

“We weren’t- no we’re not-” Taeyong stammered, his face getting red as he stepped away from Jaehyun. “He’s hurt.”

“Clearly, you have not seen my flirting tricks,” Jaehyun told Doyoung. “Also, I’ve been stabbed, I can do what I want.”

“Well, good for you for getting injured like the rest of us,” Doyoung said. “You guys can go on your date after we go home, now come on Taeyong, we have to regroup.” He grabbed Taeyong’s arm and pulled him towards him, the two walking away from Jaehyun. “Jaehyun, do something stupid for what I care.”

“‘Don’t test me, I’ll take that seriously,” Jaehyun said, following the two towards the center, as he ignored the pain in his arm.

***

Si Cheng sat on top of a boulder he found nearby, sitting on it while sighing at the argument going on. 

Literally they have done nothing today. You would think life would get more excited if there were aliens and you were defeating them with your friends and classmates, but  _ noooooooooooo _ , these people wanted to argue and whine about a scratch while those with stab wounds forgot they had stabbed wounds. 

They have fought for, like, a total of ten minutes. God, how Si Cheng hoped this wasn’t a story or movie, because if it was, it would have low reviews; no one would want to hear his inner dialogue of all the yogurt waiting for him back home. 

He rested his head on his hands, sighing, as he tuned out the conversation the rest were having. 

“You know, I’m not surprised Mark and Haechan are gone, they probably went to fuck,” Johnny said. “But like… Kun? How did  _ he  _ get lost, he probably knows how to travel by stars or shit.”

“Didn’t Xiaojun faint or something?” Taeil asked him. 

“Wait, since when are Mark and Haechan fucking??” Yuta screamed at Johnny. “How was I  _ not  _ informed??”

“Bro, it was when me and Lucas went with Doyoung to go find them-”

Jaehyun rolled his eyes. “I don’t think now is the appropriate time to hear about their sex life- no, more like EVER.”

“I wonder if I won the bet,” Ten said. “Who confessed first-”

Renjun came by to sit next to Si Cheng, resting his head on his hands as he looked gloomy. “I want to fight aliens or go home and sleep, not argue about plans and shit, damn, I don’t even know what I’m doing for dinner.”

Si Cheng nodded. “Same.”

They looked up to see Yangyang coming towards them, Hendery in tow. “China squad!!” he shouted, sitting next to Si Cheng on the ground, Hendery copying him. “I’ll force Lucas to come here in five minutes or something.”

“Oh, god, they’re going to argue for more time?!” Renjun yelled, standing up. “Fuckers and dipshits! Can we go now?!?! Who cares about not dying at this point, even death is more fun than this!!”

“RENJUN, KEEP YOUR VOICE DOWN,” Doyoung yelled at him much louder. “You want more aliens?!”

“FUCK YEAH, BRING THE ALIENS!!” Renjun shouted back, the two soon involved in a screaming match. 

Si Cheng brought his knees to his chest, forcing himself not to scream. He was never going to get out of here. 

It was now officially dark outside, and since they were in the forest, it was very hard to see. If they had flashlights earlier, like Taeyong, they were long dead, and now they only had the moon’s light to lead them to death or to their beds. 

He felt someone touch his hair, so he looked up and see Yuta standing in front of him, a sad smile on his face. “You okay?”

Si Cheng shook his head. “I’m tired and bored, and you guys are either arguing about who’s right or Mark and Haechan fucking.”

“Hey, that last part will determine if I get twenty bucks or not,” Yuta pointed out. “But… yeah, I guess it looks like we’re in a dead end.”

Si Cheng laid his head on his knees again, pouting. “A few weekends ago, I was having fun at your party,” he said, “and now I’m listening to people argue in the forest while we’re dying."

Yuta grinned. “You had fun? I didn’t know.”

Si Cheng gave him a look. “I didn’t take you for an idiot, Yuta.”

“Sorry, sorry, let me just enjoy the ego boost for a minute- woah, what is that?” he said, pointing at something in the distance. “Finally! A source of light- other than you, of course.”

“Oh,  _ hell  _ no, we are not entering cheesy lines or nicknames in our relationship yet,” Si Cheng warned him, getting up to see what Yuta was pointing at. It  _ was  _ dark after all- well, that’s what he thought. 

There were small beams of light coming from the distance, appearing to be of some part of a building or construction thing. 

“People are here to save us, oh thank  _ god  _ I can go back to streaming TVXQ!” Yuta shouted, grabbing Si Cheng’s hand and making him run with him. “Guys!! We’re saved!!” 

“What are you talking about- yo, what’s that?!” Jaemin exclaimed excitedly, pointing at what Yuta had been talking about. “Let’s go!!}"

Jaehyun pulled Jaemin back, wincing in pain. “Yuta, come back here you idiot!!” he yelled. “What if it’s the police and they think we’re one of them?!”

“It’s not, I’m pretty sure!!” Yuta shouted, staring at the group who were giving him worried looks. “We should be able to find the main streets from here-”

What Yuta and Si Cheng  _ didn’t  _ know was that a figure appeared right behind them. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> origins for the EYEBROW Slit, woohoo! as for the rest.... :)
> 
> WE HAVE 6 CHAPTERS LEFT AFTER THIS WOOOOOO


	20. Knives and Stab Wounds

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i know i keep saying this but... this hasnt been my year (or at least the end of the year). i am really excited to finish this story, though, at 25 chapters, and there will be a sequel a few months afterwards!   
hope everyone is okay

“Are we  _ really  _ just going to walk for the rest of the time?” Jisung complained again in what must've been the third time in… five minute or so?

“At this rate, I’d rather get murdered by aliens than hear you again,” Donghyuck said, only to feel a light punch on his arm. “Ow! What was that for?”

Mark wrapped his arm around Donghyuck’s waist, hugging him tighter. “You’re making me anxious with all your death comments.”

Jeno shrugged. “Could be foreshadowing-”

“Literally  _ why  _ in the world would you say that?!” Jisung yelled at him. “Are you trying to get us  _ killed?? _ ”

The six conscious teens (and one unconscious teen - yeah, Xiaojun, was still knocked out, unfortunately) had been walking for about ten minutes on the road, thankful not to have had any run ins with any aliens right now, but you couldn’t blame Jisung, it  _ was  _ tiring, after all the stuff they’ve been through. 

Unfortunately, they  _ had  _ been separated from the main group, but they didn’t know where they were at; all they could do was hope that they were okay and being the badasses they were. 

Donghyuck set his head on Mark’s shoulder. How many steps of dating have they skipped through today? “I’m scared, Mark,” he whispered. 

Mark glanced at Donghyuck, brushing a hair strand away from his face with his free hand, the other still wrapped around his love’s waist. “I’m sorry, Haechan,” he said, using the latter’s nickname. “I’m starting to wish Doyoung, Lucas and Johnny didn’t find us, it was better thinking there was a serial killer outside of the classroom.” 

“Yeah, and we had our snacks,” Donghyuck said, pouting. “All because of karaoke- holy shit I didn’t even get to sing Marina and the Diamonds today!!” he screeched. “I hate life!!"

“Mood,” Jisung said. “What’s the point of living if I can’t have a cake pop.”

While they kept complaining about their lives today, Chen Le tapped on Kun’s shoulder, the latter walking ahead of them, unconscious Xiaojun still in his arms. How was he  _ not  _ tired? “Kun-ge,” he said in Mandarin. “Not to quote Jisung over here, but how long do you think we’ll walk?”

Kun didn’t glance at Chen Le, still staring straight ahead. He’s been a bit spacey for a while, Chen Le noticed. “Should be a while,” he mumbled. “But we have to get there.”

Chen Le nodded in understanding. “Yeah, you need to get treated for your stab wound,” he pointed out. “It must hurt.”

“What stab wound- oh, that,” Kun muttered, looking at his arm where Doyoung had stabbed him earlier. “I forgot about that.”

“How do you forget about that??” Chen Le asked him, confused. “Doesn’t that hurt?”

Kun shrugged. “Not much, to be honest. Maybe it’s the way Doyoung stabbed it, I don’t know.”

Chen Le tilted his head, still confused but dropped it, already asking the next question. “Do you like Xiaojun?” he asked Kun. 

The two stopped walking for a brief second, letting the others behind them catch up to them; Haechan and Jisung were now having a heated debate about chocolate, while Jeno clutched onto Jisung and Mark covered his face in shame. 

“I’ve only known Xiaojun for, like, two weeks,” Kun said, the two of them still speaking in Mandarin. 

Chen Le squinted his eyes. “You didn’t answer my question,” he said. 

Kun sighed. “But you already know the answer.” 

“I know!” Chen Le exclaimed. “I just want to hear your answer.”

At that moment, Xiaojun stirred a little in Kun’s arms, startling the two of them - it’s been a while since Xiaojun moved. 

After making sure he was asleep again and couldn’t hear him, Kun spoke up. “It doesn’t matter whether I like him or not.”

“Ah, Christ, you sound just like Mark every time he complains about his love for Donghyuck for- how long has he been in love with him?” Chen Le asked, scratching his head. “A few years? I don’t know, but let me tell, that gets tiring real quick.”

“That’s different, though,” Kun pointed out. “Mark’s an idiot, it was obvious Haechan liked him as well. Hell, even  _ I  _ knew that and I don’t know them that well.”

Chen Le shrugged. “Yeah, you have a point,” he muttered. “But Xiaojun’s nice, I don’t think he’ll reject you."

Kun thought of how embarrassed Xiaojun looked earlier when Kun accidentally said he liked him while being worried for the latter. “No, I doubt it.”

“Why?”

Time to take a trip down insecurity lane, he supposed. “Because- well- he has an ex, first of all,” Kun said, remembering what Xiaojun told him. “A guy who is liked by everyone and is strong and an athlete and who knows what else while I think my arms are about to fall off any second now,” Kun said. “And Xiaojun can get any guy one hundred times better than that asshole, and again, he’s only been in this school for two weeks and at this rate we’re all going to get fucking traumatized by these stupid ass aliens.”

“But you like him,” Chen Le pointed out again. “And maybe he likes you too!”

“Okay, well, why don’t you try that logic with Jisung over here?” Kun said, pointing at the teens behind them, who instead of catching up to them, also decided to stop, and now Jeno and Jisung were talking about Mark’s watermelon addiction with Mark trying to defend himself. “Maybe  _ he _ likes you.”

Chen Le frowned, crossing his arms. “Not funny.” 

“No, serious, we all know you like Jisung, and that he likes you back,” Kun explained. “Why don’t you confess?”

“Because he probably thinks I’m stupid,” he said, sighing before poking at Xiaojun’s shoulder. “I’m glad you’re awake.”

“He’s what now-“ Kun looked down at his arms to see Xiaojun, his eyes half-opened, smiling. “Xiaojun- hey, are you okay?”

“Hmm? Oh yeah, I’m good- oh boy, have you been carrying me?” He asked, embarrassed as he tried to worm his way out of Kun’s grasp. “I’m- ah shit, I’m so fucking sorry, I-“

“It’s fine, Xiaojun, you fainted earlier,” Kun said, helping Xiaojun stand on the ground. “We’re just walking, nothing’s happened yet.”

Chen Le pouted. “Sadly.”

Xiaojun held onto Kun’s bicep tightly as he struggled to stand still. “My head really hurts,” he whispered, wincing in pain. 

“Fuck, it could be blood loss,” Kun said, turning around to face the others behind them. “Can you guys stop arguing and let us get out of here??”

“It’s not  _ my  _ fault Mark is being an idiot,” Jisung said, trying to defend himself on whatever conversation they were having now, Kun lost count.

“It’s not  _ my  _ fault I have to defend Mark since he’s my boyfriend even though he’s an idiot,” Donghyuck said as well. 

Mark placed his hand over his heart. “Haechan, you wound me, you know that, right?” 

Donghyuck rolled his eyes, pointing his blade at Kun’s direction. “ _ I  _ wound you? I don’t think you should joke about wounds here, Kun’s going to be your ass.”

Kun frowned. “Why would I do that?”

“Because you have an actual  _ stab  _ wound?” Donghyuck reminded him. “Though I would prefer that over heartache any day.”

“Mood,” Jisung said.

“What do you mean I- oh, right, I forgot I had a stab wound.”   
  


  
***

“Let’s say we were in a kpop group,” Soonyoung was telling Jihoon. “What would be your position?”

Jihoon shrugged, swinging his leg. Soonyoung, unfortunately, was still carrying him, bridal style in his arms. “I don’t know. Don’t really care.”

“Ah, come in, this  _ has  _ to have crossed your mind at one point,” Soonyoung said. “Come on, Woozi, we’re in Korea, there’s idols here  _ everywhere _ .”

“You’re the reason why Koreaboos come to Korea thinking there’s a Yunho in every corner,” Jihoon scolded him. “That thinking needs to stop.”

Soonyoung pouted. “Jihoon, come on, you’ve never thought of being an idol?”

Jihoon shook his head. “No, not really. I don’t listen to Korean music anyways, just some Tablo or Jinsil here and there.”

Soonyoung didn’t say anything for the next couple seconds, staring off into the abyss deep in thought as he continued to walk through the forest. “Well, I think you would have a vocal position. Maybe even a leader in vocal, don’t you think?”

“Oh, god no, there is not a single parallel universe where that is a thing,” Jihoon denied. “I can’t sing for shit.”

“You’re a liar, I’ve heard how you sing to Marina and the Diamonds,” Soonyoung pointed out. “You would be a  _ great  _ singer.”

“No.”

“Yes.”

“No, I really wouldn’t.” 

“.... well, then you would be the visual,” Soonyoung said. 

Jihoon opened his mouth to protest, but before he could, Soonyoung said, “no, you have to pick a position. You can’t say no to both.”

“You- why are we even arguing about this,” Jihoon mumbled under his breath. “Kpop is so overrated anyways. Imagine staying up all night writing lyrics or starving or- if they fucking deny me my shredded cheese, I would have a BIG problem, you don’t even know the half of it.”

“My mozzarella sticks,” Soonyoung whispered to himself. “And- MY MARINARA! MY CARBONARA FETTUCINE-”

At that moment, they heard broken branches behind them, following a screeching. 

“Fuck, fuck,  _ fuck _ ,” Soonyoung swore under his breath, turning around to see an alien behind them. “Jihoon- ah,  _ shit _ !”

Jihoon pulled the blade from his pocket as the alien started lunging towards them. “Soonyoung, run towards it-”

“JIHOON, ARE YOU INSANE-”

“JUST RUN TOWARDS, KWON SOONYOUNG!” Jihoon shouted in English. “I’LL FIND SOME OTHER STUPID WAY TO DIE!”

“THAT’S NOT FUNNY AND YOU KNOW IT!” Soonyoung yelled back at him as he lunged towards the alien, Jihoon’s arm outstretched with the blade to successfully stab the creature, the two not yet noticing the other aliens closing in on them from afar. “REMEMBER THE PIZZA ROLLS, JIHOON, THE PIZZA ROLLS!”

***

Before anyone could warn about the figure behind Yuta and Si Cheng, the creature lunged forward and speared Yuta’s right abdomen. 

Yuta’s eyes widened seeing the metal go through him. “What the FUCK-”

Without thinking, Si Cheng back kicked the alien away from them. “Yuta, whatever you do, DON’T pull it out-”

At least three members in the group started screaming. Jaehyun was pretty sure one of them was Renjun, but none of that mattered at the moment as he let go of Jaemin to sprint towards Yuta. “Someone kill that alien before he pulls any other shit!”

“Oh fuck, I think I’m gonna faint-” Yuta said. “Oh shit, Si Cheng was only my boyfriend for a day-”

“Can you, like, NOT worry about that right now?!” Si Cheng screamed, pining the alien on the ground with the sole of his feet. He was  _ so  _ sure he heard some ribs cracking (hold on, aliens had ribs now?). “STAY THE FUCK DOWN!” he said in Mandarin, along with a few curse words. 

Doyoung appeared by Yuta’s side, leading him away. “Oh shit, what the fuck are we going to do-”

“Si Cheng, wait,” Taeyong said, standing next to Si Cheng who was pushing more weight on the alien beneath him. “Don’t you notice?”

“Notice what?” Si Cheng asked, looking back at Yuta. “Yuta, I swear to god if you die-”

“Let’s not talk about death right now, I have a spear on my side,” Yuta said, laughing nervously. “Not to mention we can’t call 911-”

“911, dumbass, we’re in Korea,” Johnny reminded him, only to be hit by Yangyang. “Ow, what the fuck??”

“HE’S ABOUT TO DIE, YOU DON’T HAVE TO REMIND HIM WHAT A LOSER HE IS!” Yangyang yelled. 

Yuta choked, spitting out what looked to be like blood in the dark. “ExCUSE me? Did you just call me a loser??”

“Oh my  _ fucking  _ god,” Taeil said, stumbling backwards. “I’m going to faint-”

“Did you just spit out  _ blood _ ??” Jaehyun shouted. 

Doyoung hit Jaehyun’s head as well. “Good job, captain obvious-”

“No, my candy just exploded in my mouth,” Yuta said, spitting out what was actually candy, not blood. “It’s from China, I stole some from Kun.”

“Where’s Kun when you need him,” Ten muttered. 

While everyone continued to argue over Yuta, the latter remaining calm (to be fair, being shock can do some… shocking things to you while under the stress of hormones), Taeyong pushed Si Cheng’s foot off from the alien, ignoring the vulgar language coming out of his mouth. “Look at it, Si Cheng.”

“At this piece of shit murdering my one-hour old boyfriend???” Si Cheng shouted over the group’s screams. 

“No, Si Cheng! He’s not screeching or anything!” Taeyong pointed out. “And his face looks more human.”

“Now we got  _ serial  _ killers in the forest to deal with as well?!” the two of them turned around to see Jaemin behind them, eyes wide in shock. “We’re going to die, aren’t we?”

“Wait a second.” Ten appeared behind Jaemin, pointing at the guy on the ground. “He looks like the janitor who went missing, I know because he found me and Johnny-”

Si Cheng clamped his hand over Ten’s mouth. “I swear to god, Ten, now is  _ not  _ the time to hear about you and Johnny’s sex life-”

“I am a  _ virgin _ , thank you very much!” Ten said. “And I was going to say making out! But anyways, that’s him, I know!” 

“Why would a janitor be missing from school only to stab Yuta in the woods on a Friday night with a SPEAR??” Jaemin pointed out. 

The alien or guy or whatever underneath Si Cheng’s leg started laughing, startling the lot of them. “You humans really are one of a kind,” he said in a scary human voice. “Your race will die out soon-” 

“SHUT UP, BOOMER!” Hendery pushed past them and started hitting the alien with a- hold on, where did Hendery get a shovel? “You can’t hurt me, I have crippling anxiety!” 

Taeyong grabbed Hendery and pulled him back. “Hendery, wait.”

“Why do you know so much about us humans anyways and why do you look like one?” Si Cheng practically growled at him. “And what the fuck does that have to do with stabbing Yuta??”

“All I had to do was murder one of your kind and extract what you guys call DNA,” the thing said, sneering. “And then I could transform. Cloning lifeless copies to overtake this world wasn’t that hard in our travel pod, anyways. You beings are marvelous, idiotic creatures, we might keep some of you guys as pets when we’re done with your planet-”

Without missing a beat, Si Cheng pried the shovel from Hendery and slammed it into the thing’s neck, successfully decapitating it.   
  


***

For the second time during their walk, Jeno tripped over some branches, falling onto the ground and scrapping his palms. 

“Oh, no, Jeno-” Donghyuck bent down and helped Jeno get up, the latter starting to silently cry. “Are you okay?”

Jeno didn’t say anything, bringing his knees closer to his chest. 

“Here, let me help you,” Chen Le said, grabbing Jeno’s hand. “We should just take a break if you want.”

“I just want to go home,” Jeno mumbled. 

Jisung sighed, immediately sitting down on the concrete road. “Me too, I hate high school.”

Mark’s eyes widened. “Holy shit, you’re a  _ freshman _ -”

“Yes, thank you for reminding me,” Jisung said, wincing as he tugged the bandages on his arm. Surely being stabbed is a better feeling than getting burned. “I might have to get these bad boys amputated at this rate.”

Xiaojun let go of us grip on Kun’s shoulder and slowly sat down as well. “I could really use a break, I think my legs are going to bail any second now.”

Donghyuck and Chen Le managed to get Jeno sitting up. “Tell me about it,” Donghyuck said. “My ass really hurts and I just want to die now- oh fuck.”

Everyone’s eyes widened at the realization of Donghyuck’s statement. 

“Um, what I meant was- I- uh- Mark Lee, help me here,” Donghyuck harshly whispered the last part at his equally-embarrassed boyfriend. “Mark!”

“He kept falling,” Mark stammered out quickly. “Um- ah, shit, Johnny would know what to say in this situation-”

“Hold on, you guys-” Jisung laughed. “You guys are making it seem like you too- like you too…”

Jisung trailed off when, despite it being dark, could see their flushed faces. 

“Had…  _ sex _ ?”

Mark raised his hands up in defense. “I have nothing to say about this.”

“What the  _ fuck  _ do you mean you have nothing to say, you’re the one I had sex with,  _ idiot _ !” Donghyuck yelled at him. 

“You guys had  _ WHAT _ ?!” Chen Le screeched. “I thought Johnny was joking and that you guys were really making out or something!”

“Oh, we did that too-” 

“Mark.” Donghyuck said. “You’re not helping.”

“Wait, didn’t they find you guys in Mr. Park’s classroom?” Jeno asked, confused. “Where did you guys even have sex anyways?”

Mark and Donghyuck remained quiet. 

“Oh my fucking god, no wonder you guys never came back with the candy!” Jisung said, throwing his hands up in the air, wincing. “We all joked about it but we didn’t think you’d do it for REAL-”

“To be fair, I thought there was a serial killer outside of the classroom,” Mark said rapidly. “And- and we sort of confessed and it all happened too fast and- and we weren’t thinking,  _ okay _ ?!”

Donghyuck frowned. “Wait, what?”

Mark turned around to look at him. “What?”

Donghyuck didn’t look at him. “I didn’t think you’d regret it so quickly,” he said softly. 

Mark’s face turned red again. “No, Haechan, I didn’t mean it like that-”

Kun sighed. “Guys, why don’t you all go to sleep for a bit, I’ll wake you up in a bit.”

“I don’t want to go to sleep,” Chen Le argued. 

“Fine by me!” Jisung said, laying his head across Chen Le’s lap. “Wake me up when we’re all dead.”

“Oh no, I can’t die when I’m asleep,” Jeno said, biting his nails. 

“No! More! Death talks!” Kun reminded them. “We're all going to  _ sit  _ or  _ lay down  _ and take a nap! I’m pretty sure too much adrenaline can kill us, anyways.”

Xiaojun stretched out his legs. He was getting more pale by the second, though it was hard to notice in the dark. “I miss my watermelon sheets,” he whispered in Mandarin. “I miss my mother.”

“Me too,” Chen Le said. “To think this is my second Friday in high school makes it even worse.”

Mark tried to wrap his hand around Donghyuck’s shoulder, the latter refusing as he scooted away, wrapping his jacket tighter around himself. “Haechan-”

“Not now, Mark,” Donghyuck muttered. 

By the time five minutes passed, most of them had fallen asleep- well, okay, just Jisung. They were all pretending to be asleep and okay.    


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> SUNGCHAN AND SHOTARO ARE MY CHILDREN I LOVE THEM   
AND WAYV IS PART OF NCT FUCK YALL ANTIS


	21. The Lights in Our Lives

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> did you guys see the resonance teaser????
> 
> i am: dead

“I don’t get paid enough for this shit,” Doyoung said, looking at an impaled Yuta in front of him. 

“Save the sarcasm for later, Doyoung,” Jaehyun said, holding Yuta up, who was talking about how sleepy he was, no doubt from the concussion he gave himself earlier. “Yuta, we’re going to leave the spear in you-”

“You’re gonna leave the spear in  _ what  _ now?” Yuta asked him, eyes wide. “I can’t just walk about with a spear in me!?”

Si Cheng grabbed onto Yuta’s shoulders, forcing him to make eye contact. “We can’t just walk around in a dark forest infested with aliens but yet  _ here  _ we are!” he yelled at him. “You’re going to walk around with that spear and toughen up, Yuta!”

“NO! I look ridiculous!” Yuta screamed back. He didn’t even want to talk about how one of his favorite shirts was ruined. “Can’t you guys do something?”

“You looked ridiculous  _ before  _ you had the spear in you,” Hendery said, laughing as he high-fived Yangyang. 

Taeyong came forward and pressed a balled-up shirt onto Yuta’s side, trying to stop some of the bleeding. “We really have to find a hospital, guys,” he told the group. “I don’t know how much blood he’s losing nor how much longer we have.”

“Quick, who has O- blood?” Johnny shouted at them. “Y’all, give up some of your blood, we know you have it.”

“That sounds vaguely threatening,” Renjun said. “How do  _ you  _ know, anyways?"

“Hey, just- Taeil, don’t you have O blood or something?” Jaemin asked Taeil. “Can’t you give him some?” 

Taeil hid his arms behind his back. “I mean, yeah, but do you guys have more syringes?”

“If Taeil gives out any more blood, he's going to faint,” Jaehyun said. “Did you guys not learn this in school?”

Renjun glared at him. “Don’t say that while we’re at school, I don’t need to be more traumatized-“

“Having a spear in you is more traumatizing and we’re in that situation right now!”

“Guys!!” Ten interrupted them. “Lucas here has O blood, just ask him,” he said, rolling his eyes. “Gosh.”

Lucas stared at him, wide-eyed. “I have blood?”

Taeyong grabbed Yuta’s hand to make him grab a hold of the shirt, giving Taeyong the chance to let go real quick while he reached for his bag. “We have some empty syringes, Lucas, I’m going to take a pint from you, okay, it shouldn’t hurt you too much, you haven’t been seriously injured, right?” he said quickly in one breath.

“Uh- no, I just hurt my head earlier,” Lucas said.

Despite all the commotion going on about Yuta being stabbed with a spear, Jaemin was able to pull Jaehyun aside for a second. “Hyung, do you not see the bigger problem we have in our hands?” he asked him, pointing off to the distance.

“What could  _ possibly  _ be a bigger problem than Yuta getting- oh, fuck,” Jaehyun trailed of once he saw what Jaemin was pointing at.

It was that source of light that Yuta had seen minutes prior, where he was trying to check out. The light was getting dimmer, and Jaehyun was able to get a better glimpse of wear it was coming from.

Spaceship or flying saucer wouldn’t be the right word, though it  _ is  _ when aliens come to mind. No, it was more like a small airplane with no wings, a space pod more accurately. 

Is that where the creature came from? 

“Stay here,” Jaehyun said, pushing Jaemin back a little to make sure the younger wouldn’t follow him. “We don’t need another Yuta.”

“I HEARD THAT!” they both heard Yuta screeched, immediately hearing Doyoung afterwards telling him to shut the fuck up.

Johnny came over to where they were. “Jaehyun, you’re fucking insane, let me go with you-“

“Did you  _ seriously  _ not hear what I just told Jaemin here?” Jaehyun scolded him. 

“I’m older than you, I get more rights,” Johnny reminded him.

“Bitch, I don’t give a fuck-“

“Jesus Christ, you guys argue over  _ everything _ !” Ten yelled at him, making his way towards the space pod, actually paying attention to where he was going this time unlike a certain Japanese. “We can’t do  _ one  _ thing right-“

“Uh, babe, don’t do that, don’t- Ten!” Johnny said, running to catch up with Ten.

“You motherfuckers, this was my idea in the first place!” Jaehyun yelled after them, running as well. 

Jaemin stood there, confused when he saw Hendery stand next to him. “Do you think we’ll be able to fly that weird space alien plane?”

Sighing, Jaemin replied, “Who knows. They’re insane.”

  
  


***

  
  


“Donghyuck.”

No answer.

Mark tried again. “Haechan.”

Nope.

He sighed, playing with the torn hems in his jeans. 

Donghyuck was “asleep”, laying on his side on the concrete, facing away from Mark. Why in quotations, you ask? Because as his best friend, Mark knows that it’s practically impossible for Donghyuck to fall asleep on concrete, only being able to do it if the latter was practically passing out. Which he wasn’t.

“Mark, can you be quiet, I’m trying to sleep,” Chen Le said. 

Mark frowned. “Chen Le, how the hell are you going to sleep while sitting up?”

Chen Le was, in fact, sitting with his feet crossed, Jisung’s head in his lap. Jisung was actually the only one who was able to really sleep, so Chen Le couldn’t move. He felt bad for the latter’s burned arms anyways. 

“Exhaustion can do a multitude of things, Mark,” Kun said, the only one who was  _ supposed  _ to be awake. 

Chen Le nodded. “What he said.”

Jeno groaned, getting up. “I’m going to sleep on the grass,” he said, brushing off his pants from the gravel getting on it. “My back hurts.”

“Me too,” Donghyuck said, suddenly getting up. Of  _ course  _ Mark was right, he knew his best friend better than anyone. “I’ll go with you, Jeno.”

“Haechan- HAECHAN!” Mark yelled, getting up as well. “Can you  _ not  _ ignore me?”

“Mark, not now, please,” Donghyuck said, still refusing to look at him. “Especially not in front of them.”

“I- you know what-” Mark grabbed Donghyuck’s hand, surprising him. “We need to talk-” 

“Mark! You can’t just  _ drag  _ me- MARK LEE!”

Mark led him off the road back into the forest, where the others could still hear him say to Haechan “I am  _ not  _ about let another misunderstanding almost ruin our relationship-”

“WE’RE ABOUT TO DIE ANYWAYS!”

And soon the pair was gone. 

“Are they  _ trying  _ to get us all separated?!” Kun said in anger. “DON’T GET LOST, IDIOTS-”

“What part of Jisung is asleep do you  _ not  _ understand!?” Chen Le yelled after them, but it was no use anyways. Mark and Donghyuck were out of sight. 

Jeno, who had been standing up the entire time, sat back down, sighing. He really wanted to sleep but the ground on the road was very hard. “I’m tired.”

“Me too, buddy,” Kun said. “None of us signed up for this. Heck, I just wanted to watch a movie with WayV.”

Chen Le crossed his arms over his chest, grumbling. “I didn’t even get to finish my karaoke song,” he mumbled. “All because the wifi disconnected.” 

Jeno sat down besides Chen Le and a sleeping Xiaojun, who was curled up away from him. “I hate high school, I hate being a sophomore!” 

“And I hate the formal definition of a limit in beginning calculus,” Kun said, agreeing. “Jeno, I know this saying is such a cliche at this point, but-”

“Don’t say what I think you’re going to say,” Chen Le warned him in Mandarin. 

Kun squinted his eyes at Chen Le before turning his attention back towards Jeno. “Look, things  _ will  _ get better, Jeno-”

“OH MY GOD!” Chen Le yelled, accidentally waking up Jisung a little, the latter who had been asleep on Chen Le’s lap. “KUN-GE!”

“It’s the truth!” Kun yelled back at him, forgetting about Jeno who couldn’t speak Mandarin. “Look-”

“I don’t want to look! I’d rather-”

“Sometimes it does get better though.”

The three of them (including a confused Jeno) turned to look at Xiaojun, who they thought was asleep. He had been lying down, facing away from them, so they didn’t realize he was awake. 

“What did you say?” Jeno asked, since, just like everyone else, Xiaojun spoke in Mandarin. Damn, Jeno was going to have to take classes next semester or something. 

That is, if they even managed to live tonight. 

“Sometimes things get better,” Xiaojun repeated, this time in Korean, his voice quiet. “You don’t forget how bad things were before, but you appreciate being in the present a bit more.”

Kun leaned back a bit so that he could see Xiaojun more clearly. Xiaojun was laying his head on his hands, eyes staring down to the ground. “We’ll get through this.”

Xiaojun didn’t look at him, bringing his knees closer to his chest. “Who’s we though?” he whispered. 

“Uh, why do old people like to scare us into having existential crises,” Chen Le said, quietly so that only Jeno could hear him. Jisung, somehow, was still knocked out. “We’re sitting on the road in the middle of nowhere and meanwhile those two recite philosophy and are probably going to kiss-”

“They’re going to WHAT?!” Jeno shrieked. 

“JENO, JUST LOOK AT THEM-”

Meanwhile, ignoring Chen Le’s and Jeno’s argument, Kun reached out to grab Xiaojun’s arm lightly. “Xiaojun, we’ll- we’ll get through,” Kun said again. “There’s going to be an outcome. It might get better, but there’s not wrong with hoping that it will.” 

Xiaojun rolled his eyes, pushing himself off the ground slowly, instantly wincing in pain. “Logically, I get that,” he said, “but when you’re just constantly stressed and that’s the only advice people give you, it gets really tiring hearing that over and over again- ah, fuck-”

He collapsed back on the ground, head smacking with the concrete, causing him to groan again. 

Immediately, Kun leaned forward and placed his hand on Xiaojun’s back. “Are you okay?” he asked, worried. 

Xiaojun shut his eyes tight, tears pooling. “I don’t know,” he croaked out. “I’m just so- so  _ tired _ , I-”

“Here, I got you-” Kun said, helping Xiaojun sit up again, holding him close to him. “You can keep sleeping, Xiaojun, it’s okay.”

“Xiaojun-ge?” Chen Le said, scooting over towards the pair. He had forgotten that Jisung was sleeping on his lap, so Jisung’s head fell against the ground, jerking him awake. “Are you okay?”

“Uh, guys?” Jeno said, pointing at the sky. “Do you see this light?”

***

Somehow, this became an efficient system for Kwon Soonyoung and Lee Jihoon. 

Said Soonyoung was in charge of running, carrying a small Jihoon in his arms, the latter holding a knife stabbing any alien that headed their way. 

At this rate, Soonyoung was now  _ sprinting  _ the hell out of the forest, the two of them screaming at each other. 

“WE GOT TO GET YOU OUT OF HERE!” Soonyoung shrieked, successfully managing to jump over a pile of branches without tripping despite being in the dark. Don’t ask Jihoon how he managed to do that, he had no clue, either. 

“SOONYOUNG, JUST KILL THESE MOTHERFUCKERS FIRST!” Jihoon yelled at him, reaching out to stab an alien that almost bit Soonyoung’s head, the alien shrieking in pain as he inched away, Soonyoung still running. “KWON SOONYOUNG-”

Soonyoung didn’t bother arguing with Jihoon, more concerned about finding help. Oh, god, this was a  _ bad  _ idea to come to Korea, this was  _ such  _ a bad idea, who knew that there were going to be aliens attacking them. 

All he wanted was for them to enjoy a nice, simple trip out of the country. It, quite honestly, had everything. They could focus on work and make advancements. They could visit their culture and ethnic roots. They could spend time with each other without any interruptions. And, most importantly, stuff their faces with delicious food that you can’t find back in the US. 

But no. They had to be stuck around a high school and have their lives on the line. All because the coordinates led them to  _ this  _ location. With Jihoon and Soonyoung injured, too, no less. 

Even though all these wild thoughts were running through his head, he was still running, adrenaline pumping through his blood, when something interesting caught his attention. 

There, up above the sky, was a tiny light beaming. 

Since the sky was dark, Soonyoung couldn’t see it very clearly, but the light was able to let him see part of what was surrounding it, which is when Soonyoung realized it was on what appeared to be a water tower of some sorts, a small one for the town. 

He didn’t know  _ what  _ was causing the beam of light, but one thing was for certain; it was probably their best bet towards safety. They could be all the way up to the top, away from any aliens. Plus, it’s easier to fight from one opening than all around. 

“Woozi, new plan!” Soonyoung said, using their childhood nickname as he started sprinting towards the water tower, desperate to reach the light beam. “We’re going up.”

“You’re not  _ seriously  _ going to be following that light, right?” Jihoon asked him, only to be ignored. “HOSHI!”

“WE HAVE TO GET YOU TO SAFETY!” Soonyoung repeated, heading deep in the forest. The last thing he needed was to lose his friend again. 

  
  


***

  
  


Donghyuck, although pissed, let Mark lead them a few yards away from the group, back in the forest where, thankfully, since they didn’t want to get lost, they were still able to see their friends. Not much, though, since it was dark. 

Unfortunately. 

Donghyuck pulled his arm away from Mark and crossed them over his chest. “What.”

“Haechan, you misunderstood me,” Mark started. “Don’t take what I said out of context.”

“Well, then, what  _ did  _ you mean?” Donghyuck asked him, rubbing his arms with his hands, as it was getting quite chilly outside. 

Mark ran his fingers through his hair, looking away. “Hyuck, why would I  _ possibly  _ say I regret all of that not even a few hours after telling you I’ve been in love with you for who knows how many years now??”

Donghyuck looked away as well, shrugging. “Well… I mean, it would just be my luck, you know?”

“What- what do you mean, your luck?” Mark asked him, confused. 

His best friend didn’t say anything, instead, choosing to shut his eyes tight, where Mark could see that Donghyuck was about to cry. There were only a handful of things that could prompt him to act like that, and Mark, of course, as the best friend, knew all of them. 

“Hey, Haechan, hey-” Mark stepped forward and wrapped his arms around Donghyuck, pulling him into a hug. “I’m sorry-”   
  


Donghyuck wrapped his arms around Mark’s neck, burrowing his head onto the latter’s neck, where Mark could feel it get wet. “I- I just don’t know what else to do to make them happy.”

“Nothing, Donghyuck, you don’t have to do anything,” Mark said, rubbing a soothing circle on Donghyuck’s back. “Nothing, you’re literally perfect, Haechan, and it’s their fault for not seeing that.”

They stood there in silence for a while, Donghyuck silently crying while Mark held him. 

During the entire course of their friendship, Mark has always,  _ always  _ known, how shitty Haechan’s parents were. Unfortunately, no matter how much effort Donghyuck put for his parents to like him or to actually  _ care  _ for him for once… nothing mattered. 

In Mark’s opinion, fuck Donghyuck’s parents. They haven’t done  _ one  _ thing for Donghyuck, haven’t been there for when he has needed them,  _ nothing _ . They probably don’t even know their son is missing, anyways, and that’s how they’ve always been. 

“I love you, Lee Donghyuck,” Mark whispered, patting down Haechan’s hair. “And I’m sorry, I really didn’t mean to make you feel that way earlier, it’s just… be honest, no one dreams of confessing their love to someone else in a computer classroom at school after hours while a serial killer threatens to kill you guys.”

Despite having just been crying, Donghyuck couldn’t help but stifle a laugh. “They’re  _ aliens _ , Mark, not serial killers,” he reminded him. 

“They are  _ still  _ trying to kill us,” Mark pointed out. 

Donghyuck shrugged. “True.” 

Mark looked up at the sky, ruffling Donghyuck’s hair as he saw a beam of light. Probably a star, he realized, though nothing could be brighter than the person standing in front of him. 

“When we survive all this, let me take you to an official date,” Mark suggested, cupping Donghyuck’s face with one of his hands. “”Wherever you want. Maybe- maybe go out for dinner or something.”   
  


Donghyuck looked at the ground, though Mark could still see his grin. “When.”

“Hey, I am  _ not  _ about to die after getting together with you, you know how much that would  _ suck _ ?” Mark said. “I read a Ukiss fanfic like that once-”

“The one on Tumblr,” Donghyuck said from memory, remembering how Mark cried for an hour after the bad ending. Donghyuck was  _ this  _ close to writing a Ukiss fanfic on the spot for his best friend, even though fanfictions were weird. “You heard the Always album for two hours straight.”

“That was a sad, sad story,” Mark recalled from memory. “I miss ukiss.”

That gave Donghyuck an idea. “Well, maybe for our  _ date _ ,” he said, teasing Mark, "We can go for dinner, and then we can do karaoke. Which, you owe me by the way, thanks to all these aliens here interrupting our plans today.”

Mark hid his face on Donghyuck’s shoulder, not believing what they had agreed on. Mark Lee, taking Donghyuck on a date?? Was this a dream?? Clearly he was dreaming, right??? He could believe the aliens being real, but Haechan going on a date with him???

“I promise to- to take you to karaoke,” Mark said, stuttering. “I- yeah, we should probably just survive all this first.”

Donghyuck squinted his eyes at him. “Probably.”

“I mean, it would be preferable,” Mark added. 

Rolling his eyes, Donghyuck grinned. “Well, we got over our first  _ fight _ , but you still haven’t made up to me.”

That left Mark confused. “Why, what’s wrong?” he asked, seriously. 

Donghyuck pointed his cheek, pouting. “You’re not going to give me a kiss?” 

“Oh, um-” Mark leaned forward to peck his cheeks, only to pull back before leaning forward again. “Um- sorry, I’m not good at this-”

“Mark, it’s just a kiss-”

“I know, I know, just give me a minute.”

They stood there in silence, Donghyuck waiting for Mark to kiss his cheek, but nothing. “MARK LEE!” 

“I’m sorry!” Mark screamed. “I’m just panicking!”

“You’re panicking- MARK, WE LITERALLY HAD SEX EARLIER!” Donghyuck reminded him. 

“I KNOW! AND I WOULD GLADLY DO IT AGAIN!” Mark yelled back, only to cover his mouth when he realized what he said. “Um- Donghyuck, let me panic for a moment, I  _ still  _ think I’m dreaming!”

Donghyuck’s eyes widened for a split second before laughing. “At least now we know what else we’re doing on our date,” he teased. 

Mark’s face turned red. “I- I did  _ not  _ mean to voice that thought out loud- hey, what’s that?”

He pointed at the light in the sky earlier, which had become brighter, he noticed. It seemed to be perched on the water tower nearby. 

His stomach formed knots when he saw two men on the top, messing around with what appeared to be a satellite.

“What are you looking at?” Donghyuck asked, confused. He turned to see where Mark was staring. “Oh, that’s- oh, no.”

“It’s the aliens, right?” Mark asked him, grabbing onto his hand. “Their messing with something.”

“You don’t think- Mark, what do you think they’re doing?” Donghyuck asked quietly. 

Mark tightened his grip on Donghyucks’ hand, looking down to see their fingers interlocked. “We have to go stop them.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> SO! four more chapters to go and this book ends!! the sequel will probably not be published until a few months later, but i'll see what I can do to make it quicker lol (i dont know if you guys have seen my profile but I have 10 wips XD 
> 
> Also! you guys should join the kpopfanfiction subreddit! everyone is really nice and we also have a groupchat, so you can request help and meet people! highly recommend! im xiaoxiaoqianxuesheng on there if you ever see me lol


	22. We Need Space, People!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i know i changed the series name, i thought it was more fitting. you guys will understand it over time XD

“Is that light coming from a water tower or something?” Xiaojun asked, confused. He still wasn’t used to this city, after all. 

Kun squinted his eyes, trying to focus intently on the light. “I- I think so? I’m not really sure, though-”

“You think it’s the aliens?” Chen Le questioned, both visibly excited and terrified. “Are they going to find us-”

“I can’t believe Mark and Haechan are gone again,” Jeno said, sighing. “Everytime they leave, something important happens.”

“Gotta love them being boyfriends now,” Jisung said, rolling his eyes. Thanks to everyone’s arguing and questioning, he was now awake with an awful crick in his neck. Where did he wake from again? And where were they? “I bet they’re going to frick again.”

“You- if you’re going to cuss, use fuck, Jisung, that sounds even worse,” Kun corrected him. 

“Oh my gosh, Kun is forcing Jisung to say bad words!” Chen Le exclaimed. 

“Wait, Kun cusses?” Jeno asked, confused. 

Kun rubbed his right eye with his hand, hating how he could feel scratches and dried blood on his palms. “Can we focus on the task here? We’re separated from the main group, Mark and Donghyuck are gone in the woods with no one, they are aliens around us  _ and  _ there’s a mysterious light coming from a water tower here! What are we going to do?!”

“Why are you asking  _ us _ ?!” Jisung questioned him. “ _ You  _ are the oldest out of everyone here! I just started high school, old man!” 

“I am  _ not  _ an old man!” Kun yelled back at Jisung. 

Xiaojun curled up, bringing his knees to his chest as he tried to rest his head above them. “Can we not yell, please?” he asked quietly. “My head, my head hurts-”

“Oh, shit, we  _ really  _ need to get some help,” Kun said, reaching out his hand to hold onto Xiaojun’s. “Hey, on a rate of 1 to 10-”

“Please, not that stupid scale,” Xiaojun muttered under his breath in Mandarin. “I- I don’t know, my head hurts and I’m tired, it’s been the same thing all day.”

Jeno looked out at the forest. “We really need Mark and Haechan to come back,” he said. “Where are they? It’s dark out here and they’re going to get hurt-”

Kun held Xiaojun’s hand and stood up, prompting the latter to do the same. “So right now, as far as I can tell, we have three options and you guys probably aren’t going to like any of them.”

Jisung laid back down on the concrete again, his head on Chen Le’s nap. “Well, let’s hear it,” he said coolly. “I just want to cut my arms off and a neck massage.”

“You want to  _ WHAT?!?! _ ” Jeno shrieked at him. 

“I can give you a neck massage!” Chen Le rolled up his sleeves and massaged Jisung’s neck, the latter leaning his head back a little more. “Kun, what’s your idea?” 

Kun slung his arm around Xiaojun’s shoulders, helping him stand straight. “One, we all wait for Mark and Haechan to come back in order to get the fuck out of here-”

“Yeah, they’re not coming back,” Jisung mumbled. 

“Two, we go look for them,” Kun continued. He felt Xiaojun hold onto his waist, pressing closing into him. He must have been struggling to stay awake. “Or three, I go with Xiaojun and you guys wait here.”

“You want to  _ leave  _ us?!” Jeno screamed. 

“Fine by me,” Jisung said, shivering. “Ah, shit, it’s cold- wait, hold on.” He sat back up. “I want to go, my arms are  _ burning _ , man-”

Chen Le stopped messaging Jisung’s neck, choosing to poke his chest instead, confusing him. “Why don’t we all follow that light over the water tower?” he asked, pointing off towards the distance with his free hand. “As the fourth option. No doubt Mark and Haechan would head there, and maybe the police will come as well so that Xiaojun and Jisung can go to the hospital. It’s not like we know our way out of here, anyways.”

Xiaojun let out a small laugh, his eyes blinking slowly; he was forcing himself to stay awake, which was not an easy task. “Same, I don’t even know what city I’m in and at this point, I’m too afraid to ask.”

“You don’t- excuse me,  _ what? _ ” Jisung asked him, raising an eye. He sat up and rubbed his sore neck, wincing at the pain in his arms. “Dude, we’re in Seoul, how do you  _ not  _ know this?”

“I am a  _ new  _ student from China,” Xiaojun reminded him. “Well, soon it’ll be  _ was _ . I’m not going to live.”

“Let’s  _ not  _ joke about that,” Kun muttered. “Kay, let’s hope Mark and Haechan don’t die and follow that light. Wonder how the others are doing.”   
  


  
***

Ten was the first to approach the so-called space pod, staring at it in awe. “Woah, this  _ certainly  _ looks futuristic,” he said to himself. 

His boyfriend Johnny showed up right behind him, gasping for air. “Babe, you’re going to die if you keep doing that,” he managed to sputter out. 

“I’m  _ not  _ going to die,” Ten told him. “Haven’t you noticed that I’ve managed not to get a  _ single  _ injury on me this entire time?”

“That- woah, shit, really?” Johnny asked, scratching his scalp. “Damn. Not gonna lie, that’s hot-” 

“That’s fucking disgusting,” Jaehyun said, standing next to Johnny. You can always count on those two to soon delve into their own little world. “Can you guys  _ not  _ do that right now while Yuta behind is impaled?”

Johnny shrugged. “Mark and Haechan managed to fuck while we all running in the hallways, I can do what I want.”

“That- that’s not-” Jaehyun pinched the bridge of his nose. “I hate you.”

Ten stepped closer to the space pod. It was pretty small, not what you expected of big alien spaceships or flying saucers in the movies. “So who’s going to be the first to open it?”

“I’ll do it because I love you and Jaehyun is a coward,” Johnny said, rolling his sleeves. “Let’s see-”

“I am  _ not  _ a coward!” Jaehyun yelled at him. “We have had this conversation  _ multiple  _ times and I am not a wimp, I am  _ way  _ better than Mark!” 

Ten squinted his eyes at the two of them. “Mark- what type of fucking conversations do you to  _ have _ -”

“Well, last time I checked, Mark actually  _ asked out  _ his crush,” Johnny reminded Jaehyun. “And not you.”

Jaehyun straightened up his posture. “I’ll have you know, I asked out Taeyong on a date yesterday.”

“This is  _ really _ not the time, you two,” Ten mumbled, though of coure, his statement was ignored. 

“Hold on, hold on, you asked Taeyong on a  _ date _ ?!” Johnny yelled at Jaehyun, not caring that ten of their other classmates were some feet away from them, hearing anything. He knows he always protected this secret of Jaehyun, but hey, people were dying, no one cared. “Like, you  _ actually  _ said the word date.”

“I’m pretty sure I made a fool of myself and said I was in love with him and wanted to be more than friends,” Jaehyun said. “And we were going on a date after school today, but guess what? There are aliens trying to kill us so it served no point anyways.”

“Oh, shit, I forgot we had school today,” Ten said. “Wow, I really had a test, I forgot all about it.”

“It feels like it’s been forever,” Johnny agreed. “But, Jaehyun, at least you can die knowing Taeyong likes you back?”

“I  _ don’t  _ think Taeyong likes me,” Jaehyun said, shrugging. “But… I just hope we can stay as friends, though I probably botched that opportunity, too.”

At that moment, Johnny started making  _ stop  _ hand motions, eyes widening. Jaehyun had no idea what he was trying to do, probably get him to stop thinking so miserably, but eh, whatever. 

Ten grabbed Johnny’s wrist, ignoring the alarming stare his boyfriend gave him. “What do you see in Taeyong?” he asked Jaehyun. “Not saying you shouldn’t, I’m just curious. We all like different people for different reasons.”

“He’s just- he’s so…” Jaehyun trailed off, running his hands through his hair. “He- I can’t describe it, I just like his presence so fucking much, he makes my heart beat fast but it’s so comfortable being with him at the same time, and I don’t get it-”

By now, Johnny was mouthing stop over and over, but Jaehyun was too far in his rambling to even pay attention to Johnny’s weird faces. 

“-and he’s so  _ fucking  _ gorgeous, it doesn’t even matter what he’s wearing, I get the sudden urge to just kiss him and I can’t because he’s not my boyfriend!” Jaehyun let out a cry of frustration. “And his thoughtfulness… I can go on for hours but since we’re about to die I would probably only have one and I feel like shit all the time because I feel like all I do is make him anxious but I just want him to be happy when he’s with me, either platonically or-”

“HE’S RIGHT  _ FUCKING  _ BEHIND YOU!” Johnny finally yelled at Jaehyun. 

“-Romantically-” Jaehyun did a 180 degree turn when Johnny yelled at him, seeing Taeyong behind him. “I- oh no.”

Taeyong was clutching his bag close to his chest, eyeing Jaehyun the entire time. Jaehyun noticed how the cut on Taeyong’s eyebrow was still bleeding, drops of blood covering his eyelid. “Do… Do you mean all that?” he asked quietly. 

Jaehyun could feel his cheeks instantly get hotter. “I- yeah,” he finished. What was the point of saving himself, everything was out in the open now. “I’ve liked you for a while, and, well, I’m sorry if I can out as weird yesterday at your house, but…”

“Wait, you ask him out at his  _ house _ ?” Johnny interrupted him. 

“Bro, not  _ now _ , for crying out loud!!” Jaehyun screamed. “You have your own boyfriend, leave us two alone!”

Ten pulled Johnny back, ignoring his protests. “Wait, why are you acting like it's embarrassing for Taeyong to hear you if he already knows you love him or whatever-”

“Because I hate looking vulnerable,” Jaehyun explained in simple terms. 

Taeyong chewed on his thumbnail, watching the whole interaction between the friends. “I just thought you were pulling a prank,” he said honestly. “And I’ve been confused about it.”

“I would  _ never  _ do that to you,” Jaehyun said. “Taeyong… I  _ really  _ do like you, I would never hurt you like that-”

“WE HAVE A FUCKING PROBLEM!!” 

The four of them turned around to see Doyoung, Renjun tagging behind him. “Taeyong! Thanks for stopping them from entering that thing.”

“I- oh, yeah, I forgot about that,” Taeyong mumbled, continuing to chew on his thumbnail. 

“The- Doyoung, you have absolutely  _ no  _ faith in us,” Johnny argued with Doyoung. 

Doyoung shrugged. “Course I don’t, any sane person wouldn’t.” He turned his attention back to Taeyong. “So I know a lot of us got distracted with this space pod over here or Yuta getting stabbed but we have a bigger problem in our hands and I don’t know if it’s good or bad-”

“How can this day  _ possibly  _ get any worse?” Ten asked Doyoung. 

Doyoung didn’t answer Ten, merely choosing to glare at him until the latter raised his hands up in defeat. “Okay, ignore me, then-”

“Don’t worry, babe, you know I never ignore you,” Johnny said. 

“Doyoung, what’s wrong?” Taeyong asked, instantly getting concerned. “What’s going on?”   
  


“I don’t know if you’ve noticed,” Doyoung started, pointing at the sky- oh, yeah, there was- wait, hold on a second, “but the light from earlier wasn’t from this alien space ship whatever thing, it’s coming from the water tower over there and it’s getting kind of strong.”

Taeyong slung his bag over his back, holding onto the straps tighter. “Do you think it can be authorities or something?” he asked tentatively, hoping everyone would maintain their cool. It was already hard enough when they killed that alien who could express coherent thoughts and Yuta’s injury. 

“When they see how trashed the school is-” Johnny covered his mouth to cough. “Not our fault-”

“Do we investigate the light?” Jaehyun asked. “Doyoung, what do you think? How’s everyone faring?”

Doyoung scratched the back of his neck. “Yuta is  _ really  _ injured,” he said slowly. “I’m just afraid he’s not going to make it.”

_ He’s not going to make it _ .

Taeyong doesn’t know what caused him to feel angry at the moment. Something so trivial? So serious? A mixture of everything?

It was an awful feeling that was not universal. Spending whether a few seconds, minutes, or in their case, hours, wondering whether you were going to make it at the end or not was not a good one. Even worse, wondering who was going to live, who would be traumatized, and who just…  _ wouldn’t _ .

Taeyong was the one who planned the 127 unit meeting today after school, after all. If he hadn’t, none of them would have been in this situation in the first place, at least, not those in that unit. 

He had to fix this himself. 

“Where’s Hendery?” Taeyong asked them. “He had a shovel, didn’t he?”

“Uh, what are you trying to do- TAEYONG!” Doyoung tried to pull Taeyong’s arm back, but it was no use; Taeyong got out of his grip and was heading towards the others, shouting for Hendery. “Wait, so what’s the plan?”

“Oh, god, I fucking hate all these plans,” johnny said, groaning. “Babe, let’s survive and get married, I’m tired of all of this.”

“Mood, I don’t think god wants me in heaven just yet,” Ten mumbled. “Where is Taeyong going, though?”

Taeyong, in question, was shouting for Hendery, who appeared with Jaemin beside him. Taeyong didn’t appear to have said much to Hendery, though, because Hendery handed Taeyong the shovel that he had found earlier that Si Cheng used to kill the smart alien, and-

Ah, shit. 

When handed the shovel, Taeyong immediately marched away from the entire group, a deathly grip on the worn wooden handle, towards where the beam of light was coming from, a water tower near them. 

“He better not be doing what I think he’s fucking doing,” Doyoung muttered under his breath. “LEE TAEYONG!”

Without thinking, Jaehyun ran after Taeyong, ignoring the wounds on his leg and arms and the fast beating in his chest. 

***

Mark tightened his grip, pulling Donghyuck closer to him as they followed the light deep in the forest. 

“Can I be honest?” Donghyuck whispered to him. “I’m really scared, Mark, I hope we all live-”

“We’ll live,” Mark said, cutting him off. He put his arm around Donghyuck’s shoulder, holding him close. “Don’t say hope, it’ll happen.”

“But- okay,” Donghyuck finished, not wanting to continue the conversation. He knew Mark liked to panic about a bunch of stuff, and it probably wouldn’t be a good time to talk about how you hope your friends don’t die. 

They walked in silence through the woods, trying to follow the light. It was coming from the top of the water tower, Donghyuck realized, and they had been close enough to realize there were two people on top messing with it. 

It was probably the aliens, it  _ had  _ to be. Even though they weren't as rabid as the ones who have been chasing them the whole day that they had to kill, it still looked out of place, in his opinion. They  _ must  _ be related to this whole incident. 

“What if these are the experiments in the Center 47 in that one country and they’re trying to take over the world?” Donghyuck whispered to Mark. 

Mark scoffed. “Highly doubt it,” he said. “And also, it’s Area 51, Haechan. Not Center 47.”

“Are you sure?” Donghyuck asked him. “I’m pretty sure it’s Center 47.”

“Hyuck, I’ve been to the states before, it’s Area 51, there’s been memes before,” Mark said, trying to prove his point. “There’s no such thing as Center 47.”

Donghyuck crossed his arms but didn’t pull away from Mark, who was still holding him close. “If only our phones were working so that we can search it up and prove who’s right,” he mumbled.

“Well, it’s not even certain there’s aliens there,” Mark continued, patting Donghyuck’s head with his free hand. “But there are here. Hey, we can be one of the few on the planet to say we saw aliens.”

“And Buzz Aldrin!” Donghyuck exclaimed, excited he remembered something from science class. “He went to the moon, right? I’m pretty sure he saw aliens.”

“Well, Neil Armstrong also went to the moon, and his name shortened is Neil A,” Mark said. “And if you spell it backwards you get alien in English.”

“Woah, why is this not a  _ conspiracy _ ?!” Donghyuck exclaimed in awe. “That’s- Mark, where do you come  _ up  _ with this stuff?”

“I think either Tumblr or Reddit,” Mark answered truthfully. “I’m not smart enough to come up with this shit on my own and you know that.”

Donghyuck immediately glared at Mark. “I don’t appreciate you talking shit about my boyfriend, you know,” he said. 

Mark’s eyes widened. “Wait, who’s- oh, you mean- oh my bad.”

“I-  _ Mark,  _ do you  _ not  _ understand sarcasm?!” Donghyuck yelled at him. 

“So you admit I’m stupid,” Mark concluded. “I was right.”

“I- Mark, we are  _ not  _ having this conversation right now,” Donghyuck mumbled. “You- I hope you know you make me mad sometimes.”

“I am not surprised,” Mark agreed. “My Ukiss rants aren’t particularly the best, and I’ll admit it.”

“No, they can be informative sometimes,” Donghyuck said, encouraging him. “I like it when you sing their songs, too.”

Mark stopped in his tracks, stopping Donghyuck with him, and Donghyuck thought it was the singing comment. “Mark? You know I like your singing, right-”

“No, not that,” Mark said quietly. “Look.”

He let go of Donghyuck and had him slowly stand beside him, Donghyuck still confused about the whole ordeal. “Mark-”

“There’s four rabid aliens nearby,” Mark explained, pointing at the distance where Donghyuck could see the base of the water tower.

The aliens appeared to be looking for someone around the water tower, though Mark had a feeling they were protecting the aliens who were above causing the light, as these down on ground level were making no effort to try to climb up. 

“So…” Donghyuck grabbed Mark’s hand and wrapped his fingers around it, glancing down to look at their entwined fingers before making eye contact with Mark. “We’re going to fight them together, right?”

Mark glanced at the aliens again before looking back to Donghyuck. 

“Of course we will,” he said. “We’re best friends, after all.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> THREE CHAPTERS LEFT  
Honestly this story has been a trip for me, yall, i really hope you guys have enjoyed it. It's defintely something new I was trying and i know i might not be good with plot or with this writing but i do have fun with this, ngl. 
> 
> just another day in ncity


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